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A  RELIGION  FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 


A  RELIGION 
FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 


BY        / 

CHARLES  F.  DOLE 


NEW  YORK 

B.  W.  HUEBSCH,  Inc. 

MCMXX 


OPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY  B.  W.  HUBBSCH.  Inc. 
PRINTED  IN  U.  S.  A. 


FOREWORD 

The  author  of  this  book  will  be  very  grateful  If  It 
proves  helpful  to  ministers  of  religion,  and  specially 
to  young  ministers  who  wish  to  keep  young.  He  has 
In  mind,  however,  not  so  much  professional  ministers 
alone  as  that  larger  and  more  Important  class  of 
men  and  women  of  whom  the  word  minister  may 
fairly  be  used  to  describe  an  honest  purpose  to  add 
some  value  to  the  life  of  the  world. 

We  are  facing  to-day  a  momentous  crisis  In  his- 
tory; certain  profound  facts  are  at  last  becoming 
obvious.  Most  people  profess  a  religion  In  which 
they  do  not  truly  believe.  They  have  come  to  the 
point  where  they  are  dimly  aware  of  the  unreality 
of  their  faith,  and  of  the  Insincerity  Involved  In  this 
attitude:  It  hurts  their  consciences  and  lowers  their 
moral  health.  The  world  Is  bound  to  come  out  of 
this  state  of  mind  either  better  or  worse. 

On  the  other  hand,  religion  in  Its  innermost  es- 
sence emerges  from  the  crucible  of  the  fiercest  crit- 
icism through  which  It  ever  passed  freer  than  ever 
before  of  those  Irrational  and  extraneous  elements 
with  which  It  has  almost  always  been  encumbered. 
A  beautiful  and  Inspiring  faith  Is  within  the  reach  of 
all  men  who  love  truth  and  desire  fullness  of  life. 


VI  FOREWORD 

This  religion,  quite  modern,  yet  with  Its  roots  deep 
in  the  most  precious  Inheritance  of  man's  past,  meets, 
as  never  did  any  form  of  religion  before,  the  most 
tremendous  needs  of  ethical  inspiration.  It  offers 
the  most  radical  and  revolutionary,  yet  also  the  most 
progressive,  comprehensive,  and  persuasive  standards 
of  human  conduct,  ruling,  with  the  dynamic  energy 
of  a  universal  principle,  every  detail  of  private  or 
public  life.      It  is  as  individualistic  as  it  is  social. 

The  author,  brought  up  in  one  of  the  most  dog- 
matic sects,  but  happily  while  the  note  of  sincerity 
still  lingered  in  Its  teachings,  had  the  unspeakable 
benefit  of  close  acquaintance  with  a  group  of  people 
of  whom  it  seems  true  to  say  that  their  real  religion 
was  in  "  being  good  and  doing  good."  Their  sec- 
tarian interest  was  never  so  deep  as  their  humanita- 
rian purpose.  It  was  impossible  for  him,  therefore, 
ever  to  divide  the  domain  of  religion  from  the  realm 
of  daily  conduct;  nor  could  conscience  to  him  ever 
mean  anything  else  than  a  "  social  conscience." 

To  the  youth  born  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury and  eager  to  know  something  of  the  nature  of 
life  and  human  destiny,  the  idea  of  evolution,  along 
with  the  scientific  impulse  and  habit  of  open-mlnded- 
ness  and  Intellectual  honesty  that  made  Darwin's 
writings  so  memorable,  offered  a  clue  Into  every  sub- 
ject of  thought.  The  fight  with  slavery  and  Its 
actual  destruction  suggested  the  possibility  that  every 
mischievous  Institution  in  the  world  might  be  abol- 
ished and  led  us  to  be  content  with  nothing  less  than 
the  democratic  welfare  of  mankind. 


FOREWORD  Vli 

Meanwhile,  forty  years  in  the  ministry  of  a  creed- 
less  church  with  a  remarkably  kind,  intelligent  and 
hospitable  congregation  have  convinced  the  author 
that,  as  a  rule,  all  churches,  Orthodox,  Roman  Cath- 
olic or  Liberal,  have  alike  come  to  a  parting  of  the 
roads;  that  their  general  attitude  toward  the  great 
and  vital  subjects  of  the  time  is  practically  the  same; 
that,  with  noble  personal  exceptions,  they  do  not 
believe  their  religion  and  therefore  lack  the  power 
and  the  purpose  to  be  leaders  of  the  new  world  move- 
ment to  which  every  clear  sign  of  the  times  points. 
They  are  all  survivals  of  an  older  faith — not  heralds 
of  a  new.  On  this  score,  the  lessons  of  the  war 
have  been  very  impressive. 

It  is  the  design  of  this  book  to  set  forth  a  mode 
of  religion,  already  dawning  upon  many  minds, 
which  the  author  believes  must  under  various  forms 
serve  now  and  henceforth,  not  for  Christendom 
alone  but  for  all  mankind,  as  the  spiritual  gospel  and 
working  force  for  a  humane  and  democratic  world. 
Wherever  It  Is  applied  It  can  without  question  trans- 
form life.  Every  step  of  success  in  the  working  of 
the  new  faith,  every  melancholy  failure  of  the  old 
surviving  and  bankrupt  unfalth,  constitutes  a  new 
call  to  press  with  all  our  might  toward  a  spiritual 
reality  so  virile  as  to  win  all  the  peoples  to  believe 
In  and  practice  it. 

It  may  seem  that  I  should  have  said  something 
about  the  coming  Institutions  and  ceremonies  of  re- 
ligion.    To  speak  frankly,  I  care  little  for  this  side 


viu  FOREWORD 

of  our  subject.  Every  living  human  movement  is 
sure  to  adopt  forms  and  create  institutions  to  meet 
its  needs. 

I  am  sure  also  that  whoever  comes  to  love  and 
understand  veritable  religion  will  easily  be  able  to 
interpret  all  forms  and  expressions  of  genuine  people 
and  adapt  to  his  own  use  as  much  of  what  they  say 
and  do  as  he  may  find  helpful.  He  will  do  this  with 
their  symbols  and  ceremonies,  without  taking  them 
too  seriously.  He  can  find  matter  for  humane 
recognition  and  sympathy  in  a  temple  or  synagogue 
or  the  barest  country  meeting-house,  provided  the 
worshipers  give  him  the  impression  of  a  decent  sin- 
cerity. 

I  am  unwilling,  therefore,  to  assume  an  attitude 
of  antagonism  to  existing  churches  or  religions.  Let 
us  see  all  the  good  there  is  in  them :  let  us  not  despise 
our  own  childhood.  There  are  many  admirable  peo- 
ple who  believe  that  they  can  develop  a  better  re- 
ligion out  of  the  old  roots.  Let  them  do  this  wher- 
ever they  can,  provided  they  are  able  to  tell  the 
truth  and  not  compromise  their  convictions.  They 
may  succeed  in  many  cases.  It  is  difficult  to  foretell 
the  various  methods  through  which  the  growing  life 
will  show  its  power.  Let  no  one,  however,  be  too 
certain  that  it  is  worth  while  to  pour  new  wine  into 
old  bottles!  Let  no  one  imagine  that  the  spirit  of 
religion  must  reflect  itself  through  all  time  any  more 
by  means  of  pulpits  and  pews  than  by  candles  and 
crucifixes. 

Of  certain  facts  I  am  sure.     A  multitude  of  people 


FOREWORD  IX 

are  scattered  through  the  nation  for  whom  the 
existing  institutions  of  religion  have  no  vital  word. 
There  must  be  an  immense  "  revival  of  religion,"  of 
a  kind  quite  different  from  that  in  which  the  churches 
deal,  before  they  can  touch  the  world  outside.  The 
church  people  have  not  enough  religion  to  be  able 
to  communicate  it  to  others.  People  are  weary  of 
being  told  to  "  come  to  church,"  as  if  hearing  ser- 
mons or  posturing  in  the  forms  of  worship  fed  the 
springs  of  human  life.  Priests  and  preachers  natur- 
ally enjoy  their  own  services  and  sermons  more  than 
those  whose  part  it  is  to  answer  with  Amens.  There 
are  many  men  deserving  of  high  respect  who  have 
little  use  for  any  conventional  outward  expression  of 
religion.  Of  course  a  really  rich  and  warm  popu- 
lar religion  would  have  life  enough  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  most  various  types  of  people. 

The  world  immensely  needs  religion  —  I  mean  re- 
ligion In  the  terms  of  faith,  hope  and  humanity. 
There  is  no  enterprise  of  human  reform  and  better- 
ment that  is  not  dying  at  the  top  for  the  need  of 
religion.  Political  leaders,  the  leaders  of  the  great 
social  movements,  the  Internationalists,  leaders  of 
great  labor  unions  as  well  as  masters  of  Industry, 
lack  the  religion  to  light  the  way  where  they  seek  to 
guide  others.  They  have  not  enough  religion  to 
understand  democracy,  much  less  to  use  its  funda- 
mental principles.  This  Is  the  pathos  of  "  Bolshe- 
vism." 

I  am  sure  that  this  condition  Is  perilous:  It  does 
not  presage  a  wholesome  world  for  our  children. 


X  FOREWORD 

All  kinds  of  people  need  religion,  in  the  best  sense 
of  the  word. 

I  am  sure  also  that  most  of  us,  whether  we  have 
religion  or  suffer  from  the  need  of  it,  must  get  to- 
gether. Religion  is  essentially  social.  Whoever 
has  it  enjoys  it  and  wants  to  tell  some  one  else  about 
it.  Religion  does  not  permit  selfishness  and  isola- 
tion; It  urges  us  to  expression,  and  most  of  all  ways 
through  social  action.  Wherever  religion  is  alive 
and  awake  it  hardly  requires  paid  agents  and  min- 
isters. The  great  popular  religious  movements, 
like  the  spread  of  early  Christianity  In  the  teeth  of 
oppression,  have  run  like  a  stream;  one  man  tells 
another;  groups  of  people  meet  on  their  holiday 
evenings  in  each  other's  houses  or  In  upper  rooms. 
A  certain  amount  of  opposition  has  served  to  chal- 
lenge the  chivalry  and  generosity  that  exist  In  every 
group  of  people. 

In  our  new  time,  with  altered  outward  conditions, 
we  still  look  for  great  popular  movements,  born  to 
meet  great  social  and  personal  necessities. 

I  have  no  prejudice  against  organizations  and  In- 
stitutions, whether  old  ones  re-created  or  new  ones 
made  to  fit  the  new  day.  But  all  human  Institutions, 
like  our  houses,  require  the  closest  attention  and 
constant  repairs,  or  they  are  not  fit  to  live  in.  I 
have  no  prejudice  against  paid  officials,  but  we  know 
that  In  the  moment  when  a  man  thinks  about  his 
salary  instead  of  the  work  he  Is  set  to  do,  the  spirit 
of  religion  goes  out  of  him. 

The  very  soul  of  religion  Is  devotion,  unselfishness. 


FOREWORD  XI 

disinterestedness.  Why  is  it  that  the  success  of  the 
work  of  the  humble  Salvation  Army  in  relieving  the 
distress  of  the  war  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
number  of  its  workers?  Is  it  not  because  here  were 
men  and  women  who  obviously  had  no  regard  for 
money  or  anything  except  a  single-minded  devotion 
to  the  welfare  of  men?  In  days  of  barbarism  priest- 
craft and  authority  often  captured  men's  fears;  it  is 
different  now.  The  religion  that  does  not  flow  out 
of  devoted  hearts  must  perish. 

Charles  F.  Dole. 
Jamaica  Plain,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Feb.  25,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

SECTION  I 

SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES:     HOW  THE  FACTS 
POINT 

OHAPTEE  PAGl 

I  The  Defeat  of  the  Current  Religion  .     .  i 

II  A  Religion  Behind  all  the  Religions  .     .  14 

III  The  Realm  of  the  Spirit 25 

IV  Spiritual  Evolution  :     A  Working  Formula  37 

SECTION  II 

THE  COURSE  OF  SPIRITUAL  EVOLUTION 

I  The  Natural  Beginnings  of  Religion  .     .  53 

II  Changing  Human  Nature 65 

III  The  Pharisee  World 70 

IV  The  Superman,  or  Man  at  His  Best    .     .  86 
V  The  Summum  Bonum 99 

VI    Two  Levels  of  Life:    The  Great  Adven- 
ture         ic>6 

VII     Evil:    What  to  Make  of  It 121 

SECTION  III 

THE  VICTORIOUS  GOODNESS 

I     How  TO  Handle  Evil:    The  Irrepressible 

Conflict ^^^ 

II    The  New  Force ^-^9 

III    The  Heresies  that  Hurt  Men  .     .     .     .160 


CONTENTS 

SECTION  IV 
THE  NEW  CIVILIZATION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  Religion  and  Industrial  Democracy     .      .175 

II  Education  for  the  People 193 

III  The  Tests  of  Good  Education   ....   205 

IV  The  Winning  of  the  World 212 

V  Democratic  Government  and  the  World 

Order 222 

VI    The  Gospel  of  Percentages 244 

SECTION  V 

THE  RELIGION  WITHIN 

I     Religion  as  an  Experience 249 

II    Why  We  Say  God 262 

III     The  Eternal  Life 276 


A  RELIGION  FOR  THE 
NEW  DAY 


SECTION  I 

SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES :  HOW  THE  FACTS 
POINT 


THE    DEFEAT    OF   THE    CURRENT    RELIGION 

Two  vast  Institutions  cover  the  world  with  their  me- 
morials: one  is  the  war  system;  the  other  is  the  cur- 
rent religion.  The  most  enduring  of  all  buildings 
are  fortifications  and  churches  or  temples.  Between 
these  two  groups  of  monuments  the  glory,  the  pomp 
and  the  heroism  of  human  history  is  divided  and  in- 
deed shared.  For  they  have  rarely  lived  long  apart 
in  any  spot,  and  they  have  mostly  worked  together. 
Battle  flags  have  come  to  be  the  favorite  decoration 
of  the  church.  Priests  and  chaplains  have  marched 
with  armies  and  helped  to  hold  the  forts. 

The  Great  War  has  forced  slowly  upon  the 
thought  of  the  world  a  strangely  disconcerting  ques- 
tion. What  is  the  use  of  religion  which  lives  at 
peace  with  war,  sanctions  war,  helps  to  win  war,  and 

z 


2  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

prays  In  different  languages  to  one  and  the  same  God 
to  give  opposite  parties  victory  in  the  struggle  to 
destroy  each  other?  The  poison  of  a  deep  skepti- 
cism lies  behind  this  question.  Where  is  the  God  of 
the  current  religion?  Who  is  He?  Can  we  name 
Him  the  "  Father  "  of  Men?  What  loving  Power 
that  cares  for  men  could  tolerate  the  horrors  with 
which  every  land  to-day  has  been  stirred?  The  cur- 
rent religion  not  only  did  nothing  to  forbid  this  im- 
mense conflagration,  but  it  blessed  men  on  both  sides 
who  went  to  fight  In  the  name  of  Christ,  and  it  as- 
sured each  fighting  nation  that  however  111  other 
wars  might  be  thought,  this  war  was  ''  holy."  What 
if  the  skeptical  mind  cries  out  upon  this  as  the  re- 
ductio  ad  ahsurdum  of  religion!  Is  it  not  at  least 
possible  that  we  are  looking  upon  the  failure  and  de- 
feat of  the  current  religions  of  Christendom?  Show 
us  a  religion.  If  you  can,  that  has  a  decided  and  ef- 
fective gospel  for  a  world  at  war. 

The  force  of  the  arraignment  against  the  current 
or  popular  religion  does  not  depend  on  the  fact 
that  this  religion  proved  helpless  to  prevent  or  put 
an  end  to  war.  It  had  been  a  religion  of  easy  com- 
promise with  social  evils.  Indeed  it  had  showed  all 
the  marks  of  the  same  Pharisaism  which  long  ago 
had  outraged  the  conscience  and  the  straightforward 
honesty  of  Jesus.  It  said  and  did  not.  It  was  dog- 
matic where  it  had  no  right  or  need  to  be  sure,  and 
evasive,  slippery  and  Inconstant  where  it  should  have 
been  unhesitating,  decided  and  earnest.  Does  any 
one  suppose  that  Pharisaism  was  a  disease  of  Juda- 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION        3 

ism  only,  that  Christianity  could  not  also  suffer  from 
it? 

There  is  no  end  to  the  evidence  confirming  this 
diagnosis  of  the  current  religion.  The  leaders  of 
the  churches  are  telHng  us,  now  that  the  world  is 
aflame,  that  they  had  no  idea  that  such  a  collapse 
of  civilization  was  possible.  The  process  of  civili- 
zation had  seemed  to  them  to  be  going  on  very  com- 
fortably. Did  they  not  see  how  shallow  the  veneer 
of  enlightenment  was?  Never  had  there  been  such 
preparation  for  a  catastrophe.  Several  terribly  sig- 
nificant wars  had  blazed  up  within  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  Great  Britain  had  taken  part  in  one  of 
them,  enacting  the  most  shameful  deeds  in  South 
Africa.  The  United  States,  not  fifty  years  away 
from  the  great  Civil  War,  had  set  out  on  the  road 
to  empire  by  the  way  of  a  needless  war  against 
Spain,  going  on  at  once  to  soil  her  skirts  with  the 
cruel  business  of  the  subjugation  of  the  Philippine 
Islands.  Every  government  in  the  world  presently 
felt  the  stir  of  the  new  and  threatening  force  that 
our  boasted  naval  power  was  taking  on.  The  bar- 
barities of  the  two  Balkan  wars  went  beyond  the 
power  of  words  to  describe.  Meanwhile  no  great 
cause  had  ever  been  more  feebly  and  half-heartedly 
supported  than  the  cause  of  humanity  versus  the  war 
system.  In  time  of  peace  good  people  were  not  in- 
terested; when  their  own  nation  went  to  war,  most 
of  them  found  reason  to  excuse  it,  perhaps  to  call  it 
"  holy " ;  this  was  no  time  to  denounce  war  as 
wicked.     But  when  would  it  ever  be  wicked,  in  an- 


4  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

other  nation,  when  you  could  never  condemn  it  in 
your  own  nation?  Thus  the  current  rehgion  stood 
in  no  way  prepared  in  any  land  to  put  its  veto  upon 
war.  Moreover,  the  governmental  authorities  gen- 
erally depended  upon  the  churches  and  synagogues 
to  give  the  aid  and  comfort  to  any  belligerent  course 
upon  which  their  nation  had  once  decided.  Ancient 
Rome  hardly  expected  more  of  its  priests  and  ves- 
tals !  In  what  way  was  this  complacent  attitude  of 
the  leaders  of  our  current  religion  different  from 
that  of  the  priests  and  the  Pharisees  of  ancient 
Jerusalem? 

Men  say  that  the  horrors  of  the  Great  War  might 
have  been  prevented  if  the  nations  had  been  suffi- 
ciently prepared  with  armaments  against  it.  A 
vital,  honest,  and  humane  religion,  if  our  so-called 
Christendom  had  possessed  it,  would  have  prepared 
us  against  the  war  and  forbidden  it.  The  fact  is 
that  we  were  preparing  for  it,  but  did  not  know  that 
it  was  coming.  For  war  is  only  an  external  thing, 
the  symptom  of  a  disease  deeper  down  at  the  heart  of 
society.  Our  arraignment  of  the  current  religion  is 
that  it  had  not  studied  its  own  special  subject;  name- 
ly, our  common  human  nature;  that  it  had  developed 
no  effective  human  sympathy;  that  while  it  made  a 
pious  outcry  against  "  sin  "  in  general,  it  did  not 
recognize  its  own  obvious  faults  and  had  no  remedy 
for  them.  The  world  was  proud  and  arrogant; 
was  the  church  without  pride?  The  world  was 
full  of  divisive  castes;  had  the  church  become  demo- 
cratic?    The  world  was  quick  to   anger;  had  the 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION        5 

church  learned  what  forgiveness  is  ?  The  world  was 
selfish;  were  the  current  rehgion  and  its  teachers 
conspicuous  for  disinterestedness?  The  world  was 
quarreling;  was  the  church  notable  for  the  friendly 
good  will  of  its  members?  What  permanent  differ- 
ence did  it  make  in  any  one's  behavior,  or  in  his  inner 
character,  when  he  had  "got  religion"?  What 
actual  effect  had  this  current  religion  with  its  diverse 
types  of  worship,  of  creeds,  of  services  and  cere- 
monies, and  its  conventional  ethics,  to  make  a 
man  honest,  friendly,  true-hearted,  reverent,  earnest, 
lovable,  a  good  comrade,  a  noble  citizen,  a  lover  of 
men?  The  most  fatal  judgment  of  the  popular  re- 
ligion is  the  answer  which  it  has  to  make  to  this 
practical  question.  The  war,  with  its  revelations  of 
what  a  savage  civilized  man  can  be  at  his  worst,  is 
only  an  accident  compared  with  that  selfishness 
within  the  churches  out  of  which  war  springs. 

Another  symptom  of  social  disease  lay  in  the 
colossal  drink  bills  of  all  the  so-called  Christian 
nations.  How  could  we  call  the  United  States  a 
civilized  nation  when  it  spent  over  a  billion  dollars 
a  year  for  alcohol?  We  have  supported  this  parlous 
condition  almost  up  to  the  present  date.  But  this  is 
a  case,  you  say,  where  the  current  religion  already 
rightly  cries,  "  Victory!  "  Without  quite  disparag- 
ing the  claim  we  note  how  superficial  the  conquest  of 
evil  is,  when  it  rests  only  on  force  and  legality.  Sup- 
pose we  have  taken  away  from  men  the  opportunity 
to  desrade  themselves  with  drink.  How  far,  by 
this  compulsory  process,  have  we  reached  and  won 


6  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

over  and  lifted  the  essential  manhood  of  our  fel- 
lows? If  we  could  only  believe  that  the  marvelous 
wave  of  prohibitory  zeal  which  has  swept  over  the 
world  represented  the  sympathy  and  all-round  hu- 
manity of  those  who  vote  so  cheaply  to  impose  their 
will  upon  the  unwilling  minority !  Is  it  the  work  of 
a  vital  and  inward  religion  to  club  men  into  tem- 
perate habits?  For  surely  no  reformation  of  cus- 
tum  or  habit  lasts  long,  unless  it  enters  the  fiber  of  a 
man's  religion  and  carries  his  good  will. 

The  helpless  attitude  of  the  leaders  of  the  current 
religion  toward  the  immense  social  and  economic 
problems  of  our  age  is  not  the  least  searching  test 
of  the  quality  of  their  religion.  With  notable  ex- 
ceptions, which  indeed  hardly  belong  under  the  name 
of  the  popular  religion,  this  attitude  has  been  notori- 
ously unsympathetic,  and  especially  in  the  wealthier 
and  better  educated  communities.  To  the  great 
cities  and  the  universities  came  the  cry  of  immense 
submerged  populations — the  cry  for  justice,  for  de- 
mocracy, for  humanity.  The  answer  given,  unless 
indifference  is  any  answer,  has  been  most  often  in 
terms  of  fear,  of  suspicion,  of  race  prejudice,  of  sel- 
fishness on  guard  against  a  less  enlightened  selfish- 
ness, of  unfaith  in  God  or  man,  in  the  zealous  threat 
of  public  force  in  behalf  of  property  rights.  A  new 
kind  of  heresy  has  been  unearthed  under  the  name 
of  "socialism";  namely,  the  too  ardent  interest  of 
occasional  preachers  in  proclaiming  a  doctrine  of  in- 
dustrial democracy.  The  modern  preacher  might 
play  with  the  creeds  on  the  easy  terms  of  saying  the 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION        7 

pious  formula,  "  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  but  let  him 
take  care  not  to  preach  too  persuasively  upon  the 
startHng  implications  of  the  Golden  Rule  I  The 
church  of  America  Is  said  to  be  free.  How  far  Is 
It  using  Its  freedom  to  "  do  justice  "  and  teach  hu- 
manity? What  large  influence  did  It  ever  exert  for 
any  unpopular  cause?  Quite  lately  men  have  gone 
to  prison  for  conscience'  sake  and  in  behalf  of  the 
freedom  of  religious  teaching;  did  any  free  church 
boldly  assert  the  rights  on  which,  in  former  times, 
its  own  existence  depended?  Here  again  we  find 
the  essence  of  Pharisaism  —  fair  professions  and 
empty  performance. 

The  institutions  of  religion  may  appear  to  hold 
firm  sway;  their  great  buildings  and  endowments 
cost  more  money  than  ever;  their  aggregate  income 
looks  very  impressive  in  the  census;  their  large  mem- 
bership includes  plenty  of  honored  names;  for  thor- 
oughly popular  enterprises  such  as  financing  war 
charities  there  is  notable  alacrity;  the  walls  stand, 
but  the  foundations  none  the  less  are  being  under- 
mined. Many  a  time  as  one  frequents  the  services 
of  the  popular  religion,  whether  in  some  big  city 
temple  or  In  a  httle  country  chapel,  the  fatal  ques- 
tion arises:  Is  not  this  a  respectable  survival  of  an 
earlier  time?  How  often  one  is  Impressed  by  the 
scanty  attendance,  the  llstlessness,  the  lack  of  the 
sense  of  "  a  message  "  from  the  pulpit,  the  disparity 
between  the  numbers  who  go  to  church  and  those 
who  are  riding  in  motor  cars  or  reading  the  Sunday 
newspapers  in  their  arm-chairs  at  home  I     Now  and 


S  A  RELIGION    FOR   THE   NEW  DAY 

then  a  Billy  Sunday  draws  a  host  about  him  —  a 
labored  and  melancholy  spectacle  —  a  tour  de  force 
to  galvanize  a  sleeping  people  Into  activity.  The 
obvious  practical  question,  urged  by  the  pressure  of 
economic  necessity,  returns  upon  the  thoughtful  ques- 
tioner: How  useful  Is  this  current  religion  to  modern 
society?  What  can  It  do,  and  what  does  it,  to  mend 
the  spiritual  health  of  mankind?  How  great  a  loss, 
if  any,  should  we  suffer  If  we  proclaimed  a  morato- 
rium of  a  generation  or  two  for  these  time-honored 
institutions?  I  have  In  mind  two  Independent  stud- 
ies of  the  church,  one  by  a  highly  respected  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  touching  a  group  of  different  denomina- 
tions, including  his  own,  in  the  town  of  his  summer 
residence;  the  other  by  an  experienced  educator,  re- 
viewing the  history  of  his  own  old  Puritan  church 
for  two  centuries.  In  each  case  the  result  of  the 
study  was  negative.  The  institution  had  failed  to 
demonstrate  a  usefulness  to  warrant  Its  cost! 

I  wish  to  speak  In  no  tone  of  pessimism.  T  in- 
quire; I  do  not  profess  to  make  up  a  balance  sheet, 
or  to  measure  all  the  fine  shades  of  value  to  which 
any  kind  of  religion,  however  effete  or  unspirltual, 
may  lay  claim.  By  and  large,  I  believe  that  the  ar- 
raignment against  the  current  religion  holds;  It  Is 
not  a  vital  and  aggressive  religion;  it  is  not  readily 
known  by  Its  fruits;  it  does  not  succeed  in  giving  its 
members  any  sense  of  peace,  joy,  security,  added 
power.  Many  will  frankly  tell  you  that  they  have 
never  consciously  enjoyed  an  "  experience  of  relig- 
ion/' in  the  sense  that  one  speaks  of  an  experience 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION       9 

of  parenthood  or  friendship.  They  have  no  strong 
and  hearty  bond  with  their  fellow  religionists  such 
as  men  once  had  in  the  buoyant  birth-period  of  their 
religion;  they  do  not  know  what  the  Presence  of 
God,  as  a  grand  consciousness  of  infinite  rest  and 
fellowship,  means;  they  are  not  sure  even  that  God 
is;  they  are  rarely  so  sure  of  God  or  that  this  is 
God's  world,  as  to  dare  to  do  right,  when  the  right 
is  not  the  custom  of  their  social  group,  or  when 
the  right  is  somewhat  costly  and  threatens  to  be  un- 
profitable. They  almost  never  find  themselves  es- 
tablished in  a  resolute  purpose  by  the  known  support 
of  their  brothers  in  the  church.  All  this  is  the  mark 
of  an  historic  or  decadent  religion;  it  has  fallen  out 
of  connection  with  the  sources  of  life. 

A  vital  church  ought  to  stand  in  relation  with  the 
thought  of  its  age.  It  begins  to  die  if  ever  its  pre- 
vailing thought  is  antiquated  and  conventional.  The 
current  religion  is  out  of  gear  with  the  thought  of 
our  times.  A  great  clue,  necessary  to  understand 
the  marvelous  processes  of  history  or  to  construct 
a  working  philosophy,  is  at  hand  to-day  in  the  idea 
of  evolution.  Evolution  is  not  merely  in  the  outer 
world;  it  is  essentially  spiritual.  Religion  itself  is 
the  growth  and  product  of  the  stirrings,  inquiries, 
experiences,  and  aspirations  of  manv  a2:es.  But  the 
popular  religion  still  carries  its  medieval  creeds  and 
dogmas,  offers  the  lip  worship  of  an  unmeaning  re- 
cital of  obsolete  sentences  —  the  Apostles'  Creed 
and  undevotional  Hebrew  psalms.  It  professes  still 
to  hold  a  theology  by  virtue  of  ancient  authority, 


lO  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

as  if  there  were  no  vast  parable  in  the  outer  world, 
open  at  last  to  science,  full  of  gleams  of  helpful  sug- 
gestiveness  as  to  the  inner  meanings  of  life.  The 
current  religion  is  still  moored  to  the  false  science  of 
the  Ptolemaic  astronomy  and  a  preposterous  render- 
ing of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Leaders  of  its 
churches  who  know  better  are  fearful  of  breaking  the 
unity  of  the  church  by  thought-provoking  discussion. 
Their  own  souls  thus  suffer  atrophy.  Meanwhile 
scores  of  rival  sects  already  break  the  unity  of  the 
only  real  church  that  ever  was  or  can  be ;  namely,  the 
men  of  truth  and  good  will,  the  helpers  and  lovers, 
the  believers  and  doers,  the  real  poets,  sons  and 
daughters  of  God.  Yes  I  The  current  religion  is 
far  behind  all  the  best  and  most  active  thinking  of 
our  age.  And  millions  of  people  are  trying  hope- 
lessly to  live  and  do  business  in  one  world  and  con- 
duct worship  in  another  and  unreal  world;  they 
are  trying  to  stay  out  of  the  universe  I 

Have  not  certain  groups,  however,  the  Unitarians 
and  other  liberals,  succeeded  in  making  their  thought 
in  religion  tally  with  the  thought  of  schools  and  col- 
leges? A  few  have  tried  to  use  their  minds,  but 
this  is  not  enough  in  the  realm  of  religion.  Religion 
must  carry  the  whole  man  along  and  not  only  the 
mind.  The  most  correct  thought  about  religion  by 
itself  would  only  be  a  new  orthodoxy.  Religion 
wants  to  be  adapted  to  life.  As  we  wish  to  show 
later,  the  implications  of  a  genuine  and  vital  religion 
are  so  immense  and  far-reaching  that  no  man  has 
any  idea  of  them  simply  by  his  Intellectual  under- 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION      II 

Standing  of  a  few  definitions,  never  adequate  to  de- 
fine  the  reality.  What  If  the  Hberal,  like  others, 
merely  repeats  the  great  principles  by  rote?  He  is 
proud  to  have  sloughed  off  the  confusing  doctrines 
of  the  popular  creed.  But  who  knows  that  the 
obscure  dogma  In  the  despised  creed  does  not  con- 
tain the  hint  of  a  living  truth? 

The  fact  Is  that  people  are  members  of  liberal 
churches,  as  they  are  of  other  churches,  largely  by 
reason  of  social  affinity  and  heredity.  What  liberal 
church  ever  started  with  a  purpose  to  find  truth  or, 
grander  yet,  to  lead  a  new  enterprise  to  bring  "  the 
Kingdom  of  God  "  to  the  modern  world?  For  the 
most  part  and  excepting  Individual  efforts,  liberal 
churches  are  very  like  other  forms  of  the  current 
religion.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Judaism  with 
its  orthodox  and  liberal  wing.  Never  have  any  of 
these  groups  actively  set  out  to  express  and  incarnate 
the  soul  of  religion.  The  same  survival  of  timidity, 
both  intellectual  and  moral,  the  same  distrust  of 
putting  their  professions  Into  practice  In  this  actual 
world,  the  fatal  doubt  whether  their  religion  will 
work,  the  human  Instinct  to  herd  along  with  other 
men  and  escape  unpopularity  or  responsibility,  has 
appeared  with  like  results  on  both  sides  of  the  vague 
line  supposed  to  distinguish  the  vast  orthodox  hosts 
from  the  various  liberal  movements.  Little  ven- 
tured, little  gained.  Little  outgo,  little  Income. 
The  liberals  have  not  taken  their  religion  very  seri- 
ously, and  they  have  therefore  shown  small  persua- 
sive power  to  gather  the  people.     Moreover,  we 


12  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

have  lived  to  see  them,  at  one  of  the  greatest  Issues 
of  rehgious  history,  generally  taking  up  the  same 
war  cry  as  that  of  the  current  religion,  preaching  the 
old-world  method  of  violence,  thinking  to  cast  out 
evil  by  doing  evil,  invoking  the  name  of  Jesus  to  pro- 
voke warriors  to  fight,  deriding  "  peacemakers  "  and 
casting  them  out  of  their  churches  —  a  perfectly  nat- 
ural course,  easy  to  understand,  for  those  who  had 
learned  only  to  respect  the  great  words  of  religion, 
without  understanding  their  costly  implications! 

Meanwhile,  the  world  has  suddenly  developed  a 
new  science,  new  sources  of  almost  infinite  power, 
a  new  system  of  industry,  world-wide  complications 
of  business  and  commerce,  new  problems  difl^cult 
enough  to  swamp  the  mind  that  tries  to  imagine  their 
outcome;  the  world  just  begins  to  wake  up  to  the 
need  of  a  real  and  practical  religion,  of  such  a 
religion  as  has  never  yet  been  largely  known  and 
practiced,  of  a  religion  adequate  to  fit  such  a  crisis 
as  this,  and  it  finds  Itself  with  a  current  religion  as 
helpless  to  meet  its  needs  as  if  we  were  to  try  to  use 
the  old  Mayflower  for  ocean  travel.  The  world 
needed  *'  preparedness,"  but  not  In  steel  or  gold. 
In  food  and  drink.  In  new  chemical  secrets.  In  en- 
larged forces  of  destruction.  It  wanted  and  must 
have  a  religion  humane  enough  to  match  Its  great 
science,  a  religion  rational  enough  to  ally  itself  with 
Its  science,  but,  far  more  Important,  a  religion  vital 
enough  to  give  a  higher  motive  power  than  fear  or 
warlike  discipline  or  greed  of  gain  or  the  hysteria 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CURRENT  RELIGION      13 

of  an  Inflated  patriotism  could  ever  give,   for  the 
counsels  and  conduct  of  mankind. 

Have  I  arraigned  the  popular  religion  too  se- 
verely or  done  it  injustice  ?  I  was  brought  up  in  it ;  I 
know  it  from  the  roots  upward;  I  am  aware  of  the 
values  that  it  once  carried;  I  would  say  nothing  to 
break  it  down,  if  I  did  not  see  what  ought  to  super- 
sede it;  I  would  not  willingly  hurt  any  one's  feelings 
who  loves  it.  We  might  bear  with  it  in  further 
patience,  if  it  would  only  be  humble  and  face  the 
truth,  and  tell  the  truth.  But  its  worst  fault  is  that 
it  fosters  pride  and  egotism;  it  asks  men  to  "  humble 
themselves  "  and  confess  their  sins,  but  it  does  not 
confess  its  own  sins.  It  had  its  chance  to  lead  men 
to  new  reaches  of  conduct,  but  it  preferred  to  follow 
like  a  slave  in  chains  at  the  heels  of  the  warriors,  the 
bankers,  and  the  politicians.  I  leave  the  question, 
"  Has  the  world  any  use  for  the  current  religion?  " 
with  a  negative  answer.  It  has  failed  and  been  de- 
feated. It  is  not  good  enough  to  repair.  There  is 
no  land  under  the  sun  where  an  honest  man  would 
not  suffer  shame  to  undertake  to  profess  it. 
"  What !  "  men  would  say.  "  The  religion  that  was 
responsible  for  the  Great  War!  "  The  world  cries 
out  in  its  need  for  something  more  sturdy  and  brave, 
more  reverent,  friendly  and  humane. 


II 

A   RELIGION   BEHIND   ALL   THE   RELIGIONS 

To  say  that  the  current  religion  has  failed  Is  not  to 
say  that  religion  has  failed.  It  is  not  to  say  that 
Christianity  has  failed,  if  we  might  only  know  what 
the  true  Christianity  is.  It  is  an  old  saying  that 
Christianity  has  never  been  tried;  it  has  not  been 
tried  on  any  large  scale;  It  has  never  been  practiced 
in  earnest  by  many  people.  Neither  has  Judaism  at 
Its  best  ever  failed.  In  most  minds  there  is  a  haunt- 
ing sense  that  there  Is  something  valid  in  religion, 
if  we  could  only  discover  it.  What  Is  this  valid 
substance  of  religion? 

There  Is  no  more  important  question  in  the  field 
of  knowledge  than  that  upon  which  we  now  enter. 
No  truthful  mind  can  bear  to  delude  itself  with  a 
pretense  of  religion  or  a  show  of  argument  to  estab- 
lish it,  if  It  Is  not  real.  We  have  no  merely  academic 
question  here.  It  is  intensely  practical;  It  bears  on 
every  Issue  of  right  or  duty;  it  involves  the  secret  of 
happiness,  the  improvability  of  humanity  and  the 
destiny  of  mankind.  If  there  be  nothing  mighty  and 
moving  In  religion,  mankind  loses  its  most  precious 
asset.  Worth  would  fall  out  of  life,  and  worth  Is 
related  to  every  social  subject  —  to  justice,  democ- 
racy, civilization.     What  if  man  were  only  a  some- 

14 


A  RELIGION   BEHIND  ALL  RELIGIONS         15 

what  more  intellectual,  hungry,  lustful  and  imperious 
beast?  What  then  can  you  possibly  make  of  con- 
science, duty  and  ideals?  A  venturesome  IntelH- 
gence  may  perhaps  enjoy  for  the  moment  the  sense 
of  freedom  from  all  restraint  that  comes  In  the  hazy 
doubt,  whether  anything  is  real.  But  what  if  the 
mind  had  to  accept  blank  negation  as  Its  answer  to 
the  riddle  of  existence? 

We  are  by  no  means  ready  to  venture  any  defini- 
tion of  religion.  We  will  not  begin  our  Inquiry  with 
definition  or  argument.  We  will  simply  look  for 
and  observe  the  facts  that  lead  to  religion.  A  bril- 
liant philosophical  teacher,  Prof.  William  James, 
has  been  a  fore-runner  in  this  method  of  investiga- 
tion. We  do  not  need  to  go  so  far  afield  as  he  went. 
His  pathological  interests  as  a  psychologist  led  him 
into  certain  strange  historic  by-paths  of  study.  He 
enjoyed  the  morbid  things  which  concern  the  few 
rather  than  the  many.  He  took  up  the  company  of 
the  "  saints  "  who  "  dream  dreams  and  see  visions." 
He  actually  put  aside  as  of  little  moment  that  "  bet- 
ter way,"  open  to  every  man,  as  practical  as  It  was 
prophetic,  with  which  the  Apostle  Paul  at  the  height 
of  his  vision,  showed  what  charity —  that  Is,  love,  or 
good  will  —  actually  does  for  the  humblest  lives. 
Prof.  James  called  his  aristocratic  and  anaemic  saints 
the  "  twice  born."  The  ordinary  religion  was  to 
him  only  that  of  the  "  healthy-minded."  But  most 
of  us,  if  we  are  going  to  have  religion  at  all,  desire 
the  healthy-minded  and  democratic  variety.' 

lit     is     interesting    to    observe    that    many    ministers    of    the 
current  religion  seem  to  have  been  impressed  and  comforted  with 


1 6  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

Every  reader  of  Marcus  Aurelius  recalls  the  chap- 
ter In  which  he  relates  the  practical  life  material 
which  he  had  received  from  a  long  list  of  kinsfolk, 
teachers,  and  friends.  It  is  virtually  the  catalogue 
of  the  goods  in  his  spiritual  treasure  house.  He  is 
not  thinking  of  rank,  fortune,  station,  gold,  jewels, 
and  palaces.  His  friends  had  made  their  gifts  and 
contributions  to  him  in  terms  of  candor,  fairness, 
justice,  steadfastness,  courage,  dignity,  benevolence, 
and  simple  piety.  They  had  assured  him  of  an  abid- 
ing worth  and  reality  behind  the  fleeting  show  of 
things.  They  had  bidden  him  be  a  man  to  the  full 
height  of  his  stature.  Here  are  facts  about  religion 
which,  after  hundreds  of  years,  appeal  to  us  as  valid 
and  vital.  Such  facts  as  these  are  the  substance  of 
religion. 

The  straight-forward  mind  of  Tolstoy,  the  great 
Russian  humanist,  seized  upon  just  such  facts.  He 
found  them  in  the  lives  of  poverty-stricken  peasant 
neighbors.  He  found  among  these  people  gems  of 
honesty,  friendliness,  generosity,  helpfulness,  and  a 
simple  trust  that  some  good  Power  ordered  the 
world.  He  had  found  those  who  were  not  afraid 
in  the  face  of  the  wildest  storm.  The  beautiful 
little  story,  "Where  Love  is  There  God  is,"  which 
Tolstoy  translated  and  circulated  for  his  people,  was 
a  presentation  of  this  religion  of  the  simple  and 
healthy-minded.     Every  one  loves  such  a  religion. 

Mr.  James'  conclusion;  namely,  that  there  is  some  residuum  of 
reality  under  the  name  of  religion!  Had  they  never  thought  to 
look  for  it  in  certain  beautiful  and  obvious  facts  under  their  own 
eyes? 


A  RELIGION   BEHIND  ALL  RELIGIONS         17 

What  relation  had  it  to  the  elaborate  ritual  and 
ecclesiasticism  of  the  great  national  churches? 
Here  was  the  veritable  and  verifiable  rehgion  behind 
the  pomp  and  the  orthodox  name.  In  his  little  book, 
"  My  Rehgion,"  Tolstoy  tells  us  the  story  of  his 
direct,  first-hand  study  of  the  brief  New  Testament 
Gospels.  He  had  no  use  for  the  miracles  or  the 
dogmas,  but  he  discovered  facts,  principles,  and  a 
way  of  life.  His  Russian  peasants  were  leading  this 
life.  This  discovery  made  a  new  man  of  him.  His 
words  ring  now  with  the  sense  of  reality.  Here 
was  something  about  which  he  could  henceforth  say: 
"  I  know." 

Let  me  give  a  little  paragraph  of  experiences  out 
of  a  boy's  life  a  generation  ago.  It  was  in  a  small 
New  England  village,  where  the  big  Orthodox  meet- 
ing-house loomed  up  on  the  village  green  along  with 
the  court-house  —  symbols  of  the  eminent  respecta- 
bility of  the  town.  The  boy  recalls  the  dull  preach- 
ing in  the  old  church,  the  tedious  Sunday  School  les- 
sons, the  endless  repetitions  of  the  Life  of  Jesus,  and 
the  dreary  prayer  meetings.  Was  this  religion? 
The  church  gave  him  no  sense  of  the  good  God,  but 
rather  the  terrible  punishing  deity  into  whose  hope- 
less prison-house  the  nations  continually  went  down. 
Yet  here  and  there  in  this  bare  Puritan  meeting- 
house were  a  few  faces  that  bore  the  look  of  trust 
and  peace,  possibly  at  times  of  some  secret  source 
of  joy.  There  was  also  to  be  seen  there  the  cheer- 
ful, sturdy  countenance  of  a  certain  clean  and 
friendly  farmer,   honest  beyond   any  doubt.     Such 


1 8  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

"  real  folks  "  preached  the  silent  sermons  of  religion 
to  the  boys  and  girls.  The  memory  of  a  father, 
early  devoted  to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  whose  relig- 
ion had  made  him  fearless  of  death;  the  mother 
with  her  stern  faith  in  the  omnipotent  Righteousness; 
the  kindly  true-hearted  grandmother,  who  said  noth- 
ing about  her  religion  but  dealt  in  its  fruits;  —  here 
in  the  home  was  the  boy's  true  church.  Nothing 
could  ever  quite  dispossess  him  of  a  reality  that  he 
had  seen  and  felt. 

There  came  also,  among  other  good  gifts,  an  occa- 
sional visit  to  an  extremely  lovable  heretic  aunt. 
Here  was  freedom  and  an  open  mind,  with  sweet- 
ness and  light  such  as  his  young  soul  longed  for. 
Religion  might  actually  make  people  happy  I  But 
how  could  this  cheerful  hostess  to  all  kinds  of  here- 
sies be  possibly  saved?  The  question  became  the 
germ  of  a  wonderful  liberating  thought.  This  good 
aunt's  goodness  must  be  of  God,  and  goodness  had 
no  need  to  fear  either  in  this  life  or  beyond.  So  the 
boy's  mind  began  to  see  where  the  reality  of  religion 
lay.  Religion  was  that  out  of  which  grew  all  beau- 
tiful and  friendly  things;  religion  dwelt  in  the  hearts 
of  all  good  men  and  women. 

Now  this  was  precisely  the  teaching  of  the  simple- 
minded  young  Jewish  rabbi  who,  when  the  man  of 
the  law  asked  him  how  to  obtain  *'  eternal  life  " — 
that  is,  the  best  life  there  is —  told  him  the  story  of 
the  Good  Samaritan.  It  is  the  story  of  an  outsider, 
a  heretic  who  had  eternal  life,  that  is,  pure  goodness, 
and  made  it  shine  in  the  dark  corner  where  it  was 


A   RELIGION   BEHIND  ALL  RELIGIONS         19 

needed.  Such  action,  says  Jesus,  is  religion.  The 
kind  of  man  out  of  whom  such  action  springs,  as  a 
picture  springs  from  the  vision  of  the  artist,  pos- 
sesses religion. 

But  some  one  may  ask,  "  Shall  we  despise  the 
numerous  outward  forms  of  the  popular  religion? 
Shall  we  discard  the  conventional  Christianity  for  a 
religion  which  we  have  to  seek  without  forms,  be- 
neath the  surface,  as  men  find  gold,  a  bit  here  and 
a  nugget  there  ?  "  We  will  despise  nothing  whereby 
men  find  the  material  of  Hfe.  Life  is  the  test:  what 
makes  and  nourishes  it?  Whether  a  man  eats  rice 
or  wheat  or  fruit,  whether  his  food  is  raw  or  cooked 
does  not  matter,  provided  he  flourishes  on  it.  There 
are  those,  perhaps,  who  can  find  nutriment  in  grass 
or  the  bark  of  trees.  Wherever  sound  health  is,  we 
bow  in  its  presence.  There  may  be  enough  religion 
in  the  barest  forms  of  the  grimmest  creed,  or  the 
most  elaborate  ritualism,  to  serve  some  men's  need. 
A  church  is  nothing  but  the  effort  of  a  group  of  men 
to  contribute  together  in  sustaining  the  life  of  relig- 
ion. We  have  no  wish  to  deny  the  use  of  the  right 
kind  of  church. 

Meanwhile,  however,  we  are  free  to  find  the  marks 
of  religion  more  widely  than  the  disciples  of  any 
exclusive  religion  imagine.  Thus  we  find  the  good 
Roman  Catholic  priest,  as  Chaucer  finely  pictured 
him  five  hundred  years  ago,  ministering  to  the  needs 
of  the  poor,  staying  men's  faith,  comforting  them  In 
the  face  of  death,  blessing  little  children.  Is  this 
by  virtue  of  his  consecration  at  the  hands  of  a  bishop 


20  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

or  by  his  celebration  of  the  mass?  It  may  well  be 
that  his  office  and  his  emblems  add  a  certain  symbolic 
emphasis  to  his  life  and  touch  the  imagination  of  his 
people,  like  the  medicine  that  a  patient  sees  the  phy- 
sician measure  out  of  his  vials.  But  we  know  that 
his  church  is  doomed  if  it  fails  to  keep  up  its  list 
of  holy  lives  like  his  own.  Neither  can  it  live  by  its 
priests  only.  The  great  churches  do  not  know  how 
to  produce  the  good  lives.  If  they  had  known  how 
to  do  this  they  would  have  saved  the  world  long 
ago. 

Moreover,  we  are  coming  to  see  the  growth  of  re- 
ligion in  all  manner  of  unconventional  ways.  In  war 
time,  at  least,  good  Jews  have  made  good  enough 
^'  Christians."  Who  tries  any  longer  to  convert  the 
Jews?  Good  "  Christians"  also  appear  outside  of 
all  churches,  while  certain  small  sects,  like  the 
Society  of  Friends,  somehow  produce  the  highest  per- 
centage of  sound  wheat.  No  people  have  given  so 
large  a  constituency  of  helpers  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  and  again  of  war.  Among  unregistered 
"  Christians  "  two  names  stand  conspicuous,  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  What 
modern  man  would  suggest  that  St.  Peter  was  ex- 
pected to  shut  out  these  and  other  such  men  for  want 
of  being  good  church  members?  Not,  surely,  the 
preachers  who  dispatch  their  young  soldiers  by  thou- 
sands straight  from  the  battlefield  to  the  "  pearly 
gates  " ! 

The  number  and  variety  of  religions  has  been  a 
frequent   perplexity   to   simple  people.     This   very 


A  RELIGION   BEHIND  ALL  RELIGIONS        21 

fact  now  opens  the  door  wide  to  a  new  understand- 
ing of  religion.  There  is  no  orthodoxy  of  any  par- 
ticular religion;  there  is  no  single  way  of  life;  there 
is  no  merely  outward  secret  of  distinguishing  real 
religion.  But  man  is  "  incurably  religious  "  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word.  Religion  is  universal;  it  is 
the  normal  and  natural  development  of  manhood; 
it  is  discovered,  like  the  early  strawberries  upon  the 
summer  hillsides,  by  a  certain  taste  and  fragrance, 
texture,  color,  and  excellence,  which  satisfy  those 
who  have  found  it. 

It  is  easy  to  agree  upon  the  chief  elements  that 
real  religion  possesses.  One  of  them  is  kindliness. 
I  mean  kindliness  as  a  disposition,  a  fixed  habit,  a 
purpose.  Whose  religion  is  worth  anything  without 
this?  Another  is  conscience.  I  do  not  mean  the 
harsh  and  crude  conscience,  keen  to  condemn  and 
punish.  I  mean  the  conscience  that  bids  us  speak 
the  truth  and  do  justice  —  scrupulous  justice  at  all 
times  and  to  every  one.  Another  element  of  relig- 
ion is  gentleness,  as  against  the  prevalent  pride,  self- 
will,  and  egotism  of  men.  Another  point  is  rever- 
ence. I  am  not  speaking  with  reference  to  profane 
language,  or  fear  of  divine  anger.  I  mean  regard 
and  admiration  In  the  presence  of,  or  at  the  thought 
of,  every  beautiful  or  worthy  thing  and  person.  I 
mean  Goethe's  three  reverences — for  the  things 
above,  for  one's  fellows,  and  for  the  wonder  that 
dwells  in  the  feeblest  things  —  the  reverence  that 
one  has  for  a  child,  that  forbids  cruelty.  Again, 
there  is  almost  sure  to  dwell  In  veritable  religion  a 


22  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

sense  of  peace,  rest,  security,  confidence,  at  least 
trust,  unafraid  of  pain  or  death.  "  Shall  not  the 
Lord  of  Life  do  right?  "  Shall  not  the  Power  that 
brought  us  here  care  for  its  work?  Not  all  who 
feel  at  rest  and  fearless  might  say  as  much  as  this. 
But  the  feeling  is  in  their  hearts.  Religion  is  also 
honest  with  itself.     What  It  proposes,  It  seeks  to  do. 

In  short,  religion  takes  up  certain  simple  prim- 
itive qualities  in  us  —  those  instincts  that  work  to- 
ward "  mutual  aid  "  —  and  binds  them  together  into 
a  sort  of  cable  of  purpose  and  will.  Whether  or 
not  the  word  religion  goes  back  to  a  root  that  con- 
nects it  with  the  idea  of  obligation,  the  meaning  is 
there;  it  is  a  purposeful  life-force,  acting  to  unify 
every  faculty  in  us.  This  beneficent  life-force  is 
doubtless  one  with  what  men  call  God. 

They  used  to  say  that  the  test  of  the  true  Catholic 
faith  was  this:  It  Is  that  which  has  always  been  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth,  on  which  all  have  agreed. 
Does  not  this  little  summary  of  religion  come  nearer 
than  any  creed  to  meet  the  ancient  test?  There 
is  no  decent  or  useful  or  social  or  happy  form  of  life 
in  which  the  possessor  of  this  religion  may  not  share. 
He  is  a  citizen  of  the  world,  and  could  make  himself 
at  home  wherever  people  had  not  gone  crazy  with 
violence  or  passion.  Children  and  simple  folk  live 
this  religion.     We  may  say  that  Nature  approves  it. 

I  have  been  speaking  of  religion  in  the  largest 
way.  I  am  not  here  seeking  to  suggest  Its  mani- 
fold variations  or  the  heights  to  which  It  sometimes 
attains.     We  shall  have  occasion  later  to  trace  the 


A  RELIGION   BEHIND  ALL  RELIGIONS        23 

ways  of  growth  that  religion  finds  for  Itself.  I  wish 
here  to  include  widely  and  unite  all  who  possess  In 
general  a  fairly  rooted  and  growing  religion,  at  how- 
ever diverse  stages  of  its  manifestation.  I  have 
not  been  speaking  of  an  abstract  religion.  I  can 
conceive  of  no  rehglon  of  mere  qualities.  I  have  in 
mind  a  religion  of  persons ;  It  comes  through  persons ; 
it  creates  persons.  I  mean  by  person  that  inner  life, 
the  mystery,  the  self,  which  thinks,  delights  in 
beauty,  dwells  with  justice  and  order,  purposes  good, 
loves  the  good,  Is  possessed  with  good  will.  This  is 
a  person,  not  in  the  sense  of  limits  and  separateness 
from  others,  but  of  fellowship  with  them;  It  Is  the 
sense  In  which  the  highest  conception  of  God  Is  In- 
finite Person.  When  therefore  we  think  of  religion 
we  recall  persons,  the  admirable  father  or  mother  or 
neighbor  or  friend,  the  glorious  procession  of  the 
honest  and  useful,  the  teachers  and  helpers  of  men. 
We  recall  the  hours  when  we  too  were  real  persons 
like  these.  Does  any  one  want  to  sum  up  religion 
in  one  man  —  in  Jesus?  Let  Jesus  help  men  all 
that  he  possibly  may.  But  religion  Is  too  great  and 
varied,  too  truly  personal,  to  be  confined  In  the 
greatest  of  men. 

If  now  any  one  were  to  ask  what  my  religion  is,  it 
IS  the  religion  beneath  and  behind  all  religions.  It 
does  not  antagonize  any  religion  out  of  which  true 
men  have  received  aid  and  comfort.  But  It  helps 
us  to  understand  and  interpret  every  religion.  Am 
I  a  Christian?  Not  in  the  terms  of  the  current  relig- 
ion, not  in  view  of  what  Christians  do  and  permit 


24  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

to  be  done.  On  the  other  hand,  I  come  of  the  Chris- 
tian tradition.  I  can  cheerfully  use  and  enjoy  the 
association  of  sincere  people,  called  by  whatever 
name. 

This  religion  so  far  has  almost  necessarily  arisen 
to  consciousness  only  in  the  few.  It  has  character- 
ized great  leaders  like  Isaiah,  Jesus,  Paul,  Chan- 
ning,  of  marked  individual  character.  Some  of  the 
"  mystics "  have  known  it.  It  has  more  often 
reached  plain  and  humble  people,  rational  and  sober- 
minded,  shy  of  superstitions,  independent,  humane, 
and  kindly.  Most  of  them  have  been  only  learners 
and  beginners,  seekers  for  truth,  often  hardly  aware 
that  they  had  a  religion.  But  religion  cannot 
flourish  among  scattered  souls.  We  need  heat, 
light,  cohesion,  power,  effectiveness,  development, 
not  to  be  had  In  this  crowded  bustling  world  except 
by  conscious  effort,  cost,  and  purposeful  co-operation. 
There  needs  to  be  a  body  and  brotherhood  pledged 
together  to  accomplish  great  things  for  humanity. 
The  times  call  for  such  a  brotherhood,  not  to  com- 
pete with  the  current  religion,  but  to  overtop  It,  to 
outgrow  it,  to  fulfill  It.  As  the  growing  humanity 
of  the  world  Is  feeling  Its  way  through  all  narrower 
national  loyalties  toward  some  subtle  and  free  inter- 
national organization,  so  the  larger  religion  must 
embody  Itself  In  some  world-wide  form  of  free  and 
generous  fellowship.  It  cannot  be  content  to  be  the 
religion  of  a  few.  It  must  be  the  religion  of  the 
many.  To  make  it  thus  to  prevail  Is  the  task  now 
before  us.  All  free  and  forward-looking  men  and 
women  are  called  to  Its  colors. 


Ill 

THE    REALM   OF    THE    SPIRIT 

We  have  had  to  use  certain  terms  which  imply  a  way 
of  life,  a  whole  realm  of  consciousness  and  conduct; 
this  demands  a  special  name.  There  is  something 
in  us  which  concerns  things  and  grows  out  of  mat- 
ter, but  is  above  things  and  uses  or  directs  them. 
We  cannot  see  it,  but  this  is  no  objection  to  it.  We 
cannot  see  gravitation,  or  the  electric  force,  or  even 
matter  at  its  last  analysis,  but  we  believe  In  these 
Invisible  realities  and  behave  toward  them  just  as  if 
we  saw  them.  Provisionally  at  least,  the  most  skep- 
tical of  men  must  treat  them  as  real.  What  now  Is 
the  most  real  and  invisible  of  all  the  facts  of  life? 
We  are  obliged  to  call  it  spirit.  We  know  no  other 
word  that  expresses  what  we  cannot  see,  and  yet 
which  does  things  and  affects  our  vital  motions  and 
constitutes  us,  and  Is  In  each  one  of  us  the  /  or  the 
self. 

There  Is  profound  mystery  about  all  ultimate 
facts;  we  cannot  define  them;  we  can  only  say  what 
they  do  to  us  or  for  us,  how  they  Impress  us,  what 
connections  they  make  with  other  things  or  facts. 
In  this  sense  we  know  as  much  at  least  about  spirit 
as  we  know  of  matter  or  force.  It  is  more  Intimate. 
If  it  is  true  that  matter  and  spirit  at  the  last  an- 
as 


26  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

alysis  are  one  and  the  same,  doubtless  then  the  word 
spirit  is  the  better  word  to  cover  both  of  them.  For 
we  associate  force,  hfe,  consciousness,  intelHgence 
with  spirit  more  easily  than  with  matter. 

Every  one  has  occasion  to  think  and  talk  about 
friendship,  duty,  good  or  evil  character,  justice,  pa- 
triotism, liberty,  good  will,  humanity.  We  mean 
nothing  abstract  by  these  words;  we  refer  to  specific 
human  actions.  There  is  no  bare  justice,  but  only 
men  who  do  justice;  there  is  no  humanity,  but  hu- 
mane people;  there  is  no  will  except  in  living  beings. 
But  what  is  that  in  living  men  and  women  which 
makes  us  love  them?  It  may  be  seen  in  the  face  or 
in  certain  acts,  but  it  is  never  visible  in  itself.  We 
love  what  we  do  not  see  in  our  friends.  We  call 
this  reality  behind  the  veil,  which  lights  up  the  face 
with  a  smile,  which  is  felt  in  the  tones  of  the  voice, 
the  spirit.  We  do  not  even  know  it  except  through 
a  kind  of  perception  in  us  which  is  also  spirit.  "  No 
one  knoweth  a  man  save  the  spirit  that  is  in  man." 
Whoever  has  felt  the  action  of  good  will  upon  him- 
self from  any  source,  in  any  act  or  motion;  whoever 
has  felt  the  movement  of  his  own  good  will,  going 
out  in  words  and  deeds  to  his  friends,  for  his  coun- 
try, in  behalf  of  the  principles  or  spiritual  laws  which 
serve  all  men,  has  known  the  movement  of  spirit. 
You  cannot  call  it  by  any  material  name  and  be  un- 
derstood. 

Let  no  one,  then,  say  that  he  does  not  believe  in 
spirit.  If  any  one  says  this,  he  probably  means 
disembodied  spirits,  of  which  we  do  not  need  here 


THE  REALM  OF  THE  SPIRIT  27 

to  speak.  Perhaps  there  are  no  such  spirits;  per- 
haps a  spirit  always  takes  form.  My  point  is  that 
we  know  the  reahty  of  spirit  in  ourselves  and  in 
others.  There  is  nothing  human  in  us  which  we 
know  so  well.  What  would  a  man  be  without  his 
intelligence  —  an  invisible  thing  —  his  invisible  con- 
science, his  will,  his  love,  his  real  inner  self  —  all  in- 
visible? You  love  your  mother;  you  love  spirit. 
You  love  justice;  you  love  spirit.  You  love  your 
nation;  you  love  a  very  complex  spiritual  idea;  It 
could  not  exist  without  people  to  embody  it.  How 
can  you  care  for  your  nation  unless  you  care  about 
people? 

There  Is  a  realm  of  phenomena,  the  things  which 
we  see  and  measure,  with  their  deep  mystery  lurk- 
ing like  an  ocean  beneath  their  surface.  Is  not  this 
mystery  behind  things  everywhere  spirit?  It  surely 
appeals  to  our  spirits,  to  our  intelligence,  to  our  im- 
agination, to  our  wonder.  Let  us  continue,  how- 
ever, if  we  like,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  to  speak 
of  the  realm  of  things.  Let  us  also  say,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience,  that  there  Is  another  realm, 
even  more  real  If  possible,  which  can  only  be  called 
spiritual.  Human  beings  are  citizens  of  this  realm. 
We  will  not  say  what  other  citizens  it  may  have. 
We  may  not  be  ready  to  call  the  name  of  God  over 
it.  But  we  do  use  for  It  every  great  and  high  name 
with  which  men  have  ever  tried  to  describe  their 
idea  of  "  God."  We  say  of  the  realm  of  spirit  that 
Power,  Beauty,  Thought,  Goodness,  Love  dwell  in 
it;  that  is,  dwell  in  the  beings  which  constitute  it. 


2  8  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Whether  we  are  sure  of  God  or  not,  we  are  sure,  if 
any  fact  is  sure,  of  this  realm  of  the  spirit. 

This  becomes  clear  if  you  attempt  to  imagine  a 
man  as  living  out  of  this  realm.  Try  to  think  away 
from  a  man  all  thought,  all  justice,  all  friendliness, 
all  good  will.  What  would  he  have  left  to  char- 
acterize his  manhood?  Or,  again,  forget  the  whole 
spiritual  history  of  mankind;  forget  the  heroism  of 
the  heroes,  the  visions  of  the  prophets,  the  love  and 
patience  of  good  women,  the  works  of  poets  and 
artists;  burn  their  books  and  pictures,  destroy  their 
cathedrals,  raze  their  schools  to  the  ground,  erase 
the  stories  of  liberty  or  reform  won  in  the  face  of 
brutal  oppression.  All  this  and  more  you  must  do 
to  get  away  from  the  realm  of  the  spirit.  It  is  be- 
cause war  goes  down  so  far  the  road  to  Avernus,  be- 
cause it  forgets,  ignores,  and  destroys  the  highest 
values  of  life,  because  it  bids  men  affront  and  deny 
their  good  will  and  sacrifice  the  fruits  of  the  spirit  to 
hatred,  that  we  abhor  war. 

Consider  now  certain  marvelous  points  in  the 
nature  of  spirit.  I  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  use 
soberly  the  mysterious  word  infinite.  But  the  word 
certainly  has  a  meaning  beyond  all  controversy. 
We  have  to  use  it  in  mathematics  and  philosophy. 
I  wish  to  use  it  in  a  simple  and  practical  sense.  Ask, 
for  example,  how  far  a  man  may  prudently  go  in 
his  affection  for  his  mother,  his  wife,  his  children? 
The  man  who  is  a  man  will  answer  that  he  never 
dreams  of  such  a  question.  His  love  has  nothing  to 
do  with  limits  and  prudence.     It  goes  to  all  lengths 


THE  REALM   OF  THE  SPIRIT  29 

and  beyond  limits;  that  is,  it  contains  the  infinite. 
Indeed  it  has  not  "  found  itself  "  yet,  if  it  would  not 
go  cheerfully  to  death  for  its  object. 

It  belongs  also  to  man  to  pursue  infinite  aims. 
How  much  ought  a  just  man  to  risk  or  sacrifice  for 
his  honor  and  integrity?  No  honest  man  ever 
thinks  about  integrity  in  this  way.  He  has  not  come 
into  his  own  yet  if  he  can  be  bought,  bribed,  or 
frightened  to  do  an  injustice.  How  far  must  a  man 
venture  his  fortune,  his  life,  his  reputation  and  popu- 
larity, even  harder,  the  seeming  welfare  of  his  own 
family,  and  the  good  opinion  of  his  friends,  for  his 
country  or  for  the  welfare  of  mankind?  Ask  any 
one  out  of  thousands  who,  like  William  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison, have  staked  everything  that  majorities  hold 
precious,  for  a  despised  cause.  The  man  sees  the 
spark  of  the  infinite  in  the  cause  of  truth  or  freedom. 
That  the  majorities  also  have  the  same  spark  is  dem- 
onstrated in  the  swift  acclaim  with  which  the  next 
generation  Is  apt  to  erect  monuments  to  the  re- 
formers, the  martyrs,  the  heroes.  Every  one  likes 
to  see  what  the  infinite  In  a  man  can  do.  Every  one 
would  like  to  possess  It,  at  least  in  his  ancestry! 

This  is  to  say  that  there  is  an  element  of  the  in- 
finite in  any  normal  man  and  because  he  is  man.  If 
we  use  a,  b,  c,  to  express  the  worth  of  a  man  in 
measurable  terms  of  labor  and  money,  there  Is  that 
besides  —  call  it  x  or  y  or  w  —  which  denotes  the 
unknown  and  immeasurable.  It  Is  the  man's  poten- 
tial value.  You  can  never  pay  for  the  service  of  a 
wholly  honest  man;  you  can  never  be  sure  in  the 


30  A   RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

case  of  the  common  man  when  a  burst  of  this  higher 
value  will  gleam  out  to  surprise  you.  We  recall  the 
story  of  the  faithful  black  men  in  Africa  who  bore 
their  good  friend  Livingstone's  remains  through  the 
wilderness  to  the  sea.  Does  any  one  think  that 
they  could  be  paid,  or  that  a  value  in  gold  could  be 
set  to  such  faithfulness?  At  the  last  analysis  a 
man's  self-respect  depends  upon  his  belief,  or  hope, 
that  he  has  a  gleam  of  this  infinite  life-force  within 
him. 

Another  point  to  be  noted  in  the  spiritual  realm  is 
a  new  kind  of  unity.  There  is  a  unity,  as  of  atoms 
or  things,  which  can  be  counted  up  to  a  hundred  or 
a  million.  A  man's  vote  may  be  counted,  as  his 
head  is  counted  in  the  census.  You  may  hold  that 
the  manifold  appearances  around  us  go  to  make  up 
a  world,  or  even  a  universe  of  worlds.  But  this  is 
not  real  unity.  What  we  see,  as  the  mark  of  spirit, 
is  the  unity  that  exists  in  a  picture,  in  noble  sculpture, 
in  a  poem  or  story,  in  a  work  of  art.  It  says  some- 
thing to  you  as  a  whole,  carries  a  meaning  of  its 
own,  is  unique.  This  kind  of  unity  constitutes  a 
man.  It  makes  him  a  person,  apart  and  inimitable, 
like  no  other  person.  True,  it  is  often  an  incom- 
plete unity,  as  of  something  in  the  process  of  making, 
as  a  play  of  which  you  only  catch  sight  of  a  single 
scene.  Even  so,  there  is  a  hint  or  suggestion  of  the 
unity  which  ought  to  be  there. 

It  is  only  in  this  sense  that  we  conceive  of  a  real 
universe.  Suppose  that  sun  and  earth  and  stars  and 
giant  forces  and  splendor  of  light  said  nothing  and 


THE  REALM  OF  THE  SPIRIT  31 

meant  nothing  to  any  Intelligence,  would  there  be 
any  real  unity?  Suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
could  enter  into  the  vision  and  Interpretation  of  the 
man  who  first  looked  out  on  the  world  and  pro- 
nounced the  words  :  "  It  is  good  "  ;  of  or  that  later 
idealist  who  said  that  ''  all  things  work  together 
for  good."  This  working  together,  this  Idea  of  a 
purpose,  an  end,  or  use,  or  message,  constitutes  for 
us  a  universe.  The  Idea  of  a  "  first  cause  "  Is  not 
half  so  important.  Being  of  the  nature  of  spirit, 
we  must  have  a  spiritual  universe  to  live  in.  In  this 
sense,  all  that  we  see  enters  Into  the  spiritual  unity 
as  a  vast  parable  or  drama,  composed  and  addressed 
as  it  were  to  spiritual  intelligences.  With  this 
thought  of  unity,  we  may  well  find  ourselves  almost 
compelled  to  the  faith  in  "  God  "  (we  care  not  for 
the  name)  as  the  unity,  the  reality,  the  Infinite  Per- 
son, the  Intelligence,  the  Poet  and  Builder,  In  whose 
Will  or  Life  we  share  life. 

I  wish  here,  however,  only  to  make  clear  the  fact 
of  the  nature  of  man  as  a  unity.  You  will  often 
try  to  sum  up  some  friend's  character;  you  say  that 
it  seemed  like  a  poem;  that  it  carried  a  message  of 
integrity;  that  It  was  an  Incarnation  of  unselfishness; 
that  it  struck  a  note  of  purity  or  fidelity.  These  ex- 
pressions are  so  many  efforts  to  describe  the  effect 
on  your  mind  of  a  spiritual  unity.  Most  people 
must  have  witnessed  some  life  which  carried  this 
impression.  In  such  a  case  what  can  we  say  more 
than  that  all  things  have  In  fact  worked  together, 
as  if  by  a  guiding  plan,  like  the  vase  under  the  hand 


32  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

of  the  potter?  Such  a  life  is  no  mere  senseless  suc- 
cession of  detached  acts  or  moments,  like  beads  on 
a  string,  but  every  happening,  the  seeming  faults  of 
material,  the  mishaps,  the  sufferings,  pains  and  pen- 
alties —  all  have  gone  to  fulfill  a  design,  to  give  con- 
trast and  color,  and  produce  at  last  the  satisfactori- 
ness  of  unity.  Such  a  life  bears  a  priceless  or  in- 
finite message.  Perhaps  the  meaning  which  piety 
used  to  find  in  its  notion  of  a  "  divine  Providence  " 
was  simply  this  fact,  that  the  person,  once  beginning 
to  grow  into  his  own  proper  spiritual  unity,  discovers 
in  everything  some  use  which  the  guiding  life  can 
adapt  to  its  ends. 

But  some  one  will  say  that,  where  one  life  suc- 
ceeds and  takes  on  unity,  other  lives  fail;  millions 
seem  to  have  no  unity,  but  are,  rather,  a  fleeting 
series  of  happenings  and  mishaps.  Are  they  only 
the  material  for  the  making  of  persons?  It  is  no 
light  question.  The  main  reason,  indeed,  why  we 
long  for  a  better  religion  is  that  we  may  convey  the 
universal  secret  of  life,  which  some  men  surely  have 
found,  to  which  many  men  are  now  really  near,  and 
which  multitudes  obviously  lack;  namely,  how  to 
grow  to  the  stature  of  men,  of  persons,  each  one 
like  a  jewel?  Here  is  the  need  of  a  better  religion. 
We  cannot  bear  to  put  up  with  the  sorrowful  waste 
of  human  life  before  which  the  current  religion 
stands  hopeless.  We  have  a  gospel  for  all  kinds 
and  conditions  of  men.  We  have  faith  in  the  com- 
mon man  as  being  of  the  same  clay  of  which  the 
most  perfect  vases  are  molded.     So  far  as  this  faith 


THE  REALM  OF  THE  SPIRIT  33 

has  ever  been  understandingly  set  to  work  it  has  not 
failed. 

This  is  to  say  that  there  is  in  the  realm  of  the 
spirit,  and  not  in  things  only,  a  marvelous  principle 
of  evolution  ^nd  development.  You  have  not  to 
wait  for  the  superman.  Nothing  which  has  ever 
been  prophesied  of  him  makes  him  desirable, 
whether  to  rule  over  us  or  to  supersede  us.  We 
have  yet  to  see  what  can  normally  be  done  with 
man  as  he  is.  What  man  yet  begins  to  use  all  the 
faculties  in  him?  We  know  Httle  enough  of  the 
uses  of  matter  and  force.  Where  are  the  educators 
who  are  trying  to  learn  and  to  teach  what  the  spirit 
In  man  can  do,  enjoy,  develop,  transmit,  or  become? 
Education  waits  for  the  spiritual  impulse  of  the  bet- 
ter rehgion.  How  far  can  education  and  the  educa- 
tors rise  above  the  level  of  the  dominant  current  re- 
ligion? "Who  shall  teach  the  teachers?"  It  is 
not  the  current  religion  alone  that  has  failed.  The 
schools  and  the  great  universities,  to  which  we  had 
a  right  to  look  for  real  wisdom  in  the  face  of  a  work! 
calamity,  have  also  failed.  What  grand  saving 
word  have  the  professed  teachers  of  philosophy  been 
able  to  give  us?  What  instruction  of  humaner  con- 
duct has  come  from  their  well-endowed  chairs? 
What  earnest  rebuke  did  the  historians  bring  against 
our  taking  up  again  the  degrading  usages  of  bar- 
barism? 

The  world  needed  the  deeper  implications  and 
fresh  appHcation  of  the  ancient  wisdom.  The  world 
had  opened  before  it  a  wonderful  opportunity  for  a 


34  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

humaner  and  more  spiritual  growth.  The  great 
teachers  and  leaders  might  have  set  it  along  its  up- 
ward way  by  a  century's  worth  of  quickened  pros- 
perity and  happiness.  But  as  usual,  the  schoolmen 
like  the  churchmen,  had  no  active  faith  in  their  prin- 
ciples, no  vision  of  the  nature  and  capacity  of  a 
spiritual  humanity,  no  clear  consciousness  that  they 
lived  in  a  spiritual  universe  and  touched  the  reality 
of  the  spirit  on  every  hand.  The  times  demanded 
live  faith  In  the  common  man;  the  facts  warranted 
a  new  faith.  Noble  leaders  could  have  touched  the 
hearts  of  the  millions  of  men  to  attune  their  lives 
to  the  call  of  ''  humanity  over  all,"  Instead  of  devot- 
ing themselves  to  the  senseless  old  gladiatorial  game 
of  destruction.  The  current  education,  like  the  cur- 
rent religion,  had  produced  no  such  leadership. 
The  work  is  before  us. 

There  is  a  certain  wonderful  element  of  inde- 
structibility and  deathlessness  in  the  realm  of  the 
spirit.  The  body  goes  through  phases  and  at  last 
dies.  Not  so  with  that  which  constitutes  the  real 
self,  the  person,  the  ever  growing  unity  with  Its 
everlasting  stretch  up  and  outward  beyond  the  vis- 
ible a  and  h  and  c^  toward  the  infinite,  the  x  and  the 
n.  Here  Is  the  real  man!  Once  established  in  Its 
motion  of  growth,  progression  becomes  its  law.  It 
has  its  home  above  the  range  of  death,  a  bodily 
change.  You  see  the  processes  of  death;  you  never 
see  the  death  of  the  man's  spirit.  The  more  you 
know  of  its  nature,  the  harder  It  is  to  think  of  it  as 
dead.     The  Intelligence  of  a  Plato  dead?     The  con- 


THE  REALM  OF  THE  SPIRIT  35 

science  of  a  Channing  dead?  The  friendly  will  of 
a  Wilberforce  dead?  The  Christ-life  dead?  The 
terms  never  fit.  There  is  not  only  no  demonstra- 
tion of  death  in  such  cases  as  these,  but  the  impress 
of  the  facts  of  the  spiritual  life  move  us  the  oppo- 
site way;  the  best  lives  shine  out  above  death.  If 
all  of  us  lived  this  kind  of  life  no  one  would  ever  be 
afraid  of  death. 

We  thus  approach  a  really  verifiable  idea  of  God 
and  immortality  also.  This  holds  true  without  the 
use  of  dogmatism.  We  surely  did  not  make  our- 
selves, body  or  spirit.  We  are  indeed  children  of 
the  dust.  But  what  startling  contents  and  possibil- 
ities there  are  in  the  dust!  It  contains  in  itself  the 
element  of  the  world  stui^  which  our  earth  shares 
with  the  sun  and  the  stars.  On  the  other  side,  over- 
topping the  mystery  of  the  earthy  structure,  we  dis- 
cover ourselves  to  be  children  and  sharers  of  the 
life  of  intelligence,  of  beauty,  of  goodness,  of  the 
spirit.  We  are  constantly  surprised  at  the  facts  of 
a  higher  life  which  we  discover  in  ourselves.  What 
if  the  old  poetic  verse  is  really  true,  that  *'  God  cre- 
ated man  to  be  immortal  and  made  him  to  be  an 
image  of  His  own  eternity"!  Call  man  child  of 
God  or  not;  he  is  evidently  the  child  of  the  spiritual 
universe.  The  visible  world  may  go  to  wreck; 
grant  that  the  kind  of  change  through  which  it  daily 
passes,  presages  this.  But  nothing  in  the  nature  of 
spirit  forebodes  such  a  conclusion.  Call  God  one 
or  many,  or  forbear  to  name  him  at  all,  yet  we  men 
at  our  best  share  whatever  characterizes  the  realm 


36  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

of  the  spirit,  share  every  attribute  that  we  can  con- 
ceive in  deity.  In  short,  if  infinite  living  spirit  be 
the  ultimate  reality,  we  men  are  the  kind  of  being 
that  corresponds  precisely  to  the  idea  of  the  children 
of  such  a  reality,  or  universe,  or  God.  Children,  we 
say,  not  gods;  on  the  way  up,  and  at  all  stages  of 
the  processes  of  growth.  The  fact  that  exalts  us 
thus  also  humbles  the  pride  in  us  and  forbids  ill 
temper,  contempt,  blame,  and  impatience.  We  shall 
have  occasion  later  to  return  to  this  point  with  closer 
insistence. 


IV 

SPIRITUAL    EVOLUTION:    A    WORKING    FORMULA 

Here  is  a  brief  formula  touching  human  life,  to 
meet  the  difficulties  of  skeptical  minds.  It  Is  in 
three  dimensions,  as  follows :  First,  this  is  a  barbar- 
ous, or,  if  you  prefer,  a  half-civilized  world.  Sec- 
ondly, it  is  a  world  on  the  upward  way;  that  is,  it  is 
an  improving  and  improvable  world.  Thirdly,  it 
is  every  one's  business  to  engage  in  this  upward  mo- 
tion and  to  help  7nake  it  prevail. 

See  if  these  propositions,  one  by  one,  do  not  hold 
true.  In  the  first  place,  observe  that  our  use  of  the 
terms  barbarous  and  civilized  express  an  idea  of 
movement  or  evolution.  I  have  already  hinted  that 
we  have  not  yet  begun  to  exploit  the  meaning  of 
this  familiar  thought.  We  are  used  to  it  in  its 
physical  terms.  But  this  Is  practically  the  least 
fruitful  side  of  it.  What  if  it  is  thus  only  a  vast 
picture  parable,  the  stage  and  scenery  of  a  wonder- 
ful drama,  of  which  we  substantially  know  nothing 
by  the  mere  show  and  procession  of  things,  unless 
we  catch  the  Intellectual  or  spiritual  sense,  the  out- 
come in  thought,  in  ideas.  In  real  life!  What  if  a 
Hebrew  writer,  Paul,  no  scientist  at  all,  of  only  rab- 
binical training,  long  before  Darwin,  by  a  sort  of 
spiritual  vision,  in  a  single  eloquent  passage  In  his 

37 


38  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

letter  to  his  friends  in  Rome,  came  nearer  to  the 
meaning  of  the  evolutionary  process  than  most  of 
the  learned  university  professors  of  science  to-day? 
They  know  a  thousand-fold  more  of  the  facts  of 
the  physical  story  of  the  planet  than  he  knew,  but 
how  few  of  them  have  fathomed  the  meaning  of  his 
words:  "The  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travail- 
eth  together  in  pain."  Wherefore?  "Waiting," 
he  says,  "  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God";  that  is,  waiting  for  the  appearance  of  such 
men  as  Jesus  was,  and  as  Paul  himself  had  become, 
such  men  as  we  also  know  in  every  city  of  America. 
Suppose  that  we  have  here  the  clue  to  the  never- 
ending  spiral  ascent  of  the  spiritual  life;  suppose 
the  riddle  of  existence,  no  longer  an  enigma,  is  a 
moving  drama  of  the  victorious  goodness !  Then 
we  can  look  on  and  see  the  pain  and  bear  our  share 
in  it  and  be  glad,  if  only  the  children  of  Intelligence, 
Truth  and  Beauty  shall  at  last  inherit  the  earth,  if 
we  too  may  have  a  hand  in  their  coming. 

Please  observe  that  we  hold  already  something 
like  this  key  to  the  idea  of  growth,  touching  our- 
selves and  our  children.  The  physical  growth,  im- 
portant as  it  is,  is  never  enough.  By  itself  it  would 
be  a  stupendous  disappointment.  A  child  who  had 
grown  a  body  and  had  never  grown  a  soul !  A  body 
that  could  pull  and  kick  and  devour  food,  with  as 
perfect  and  uninterrupted  health  as  you  please,  yet 
without  intellect,  without  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
without  symptoms  of  aspiration  or  devotion !  We 
are  always  on  the  watch  for  the  growth  of  the  spirit, 


SPIRITUAL  EVOLUTION  39 

of  the  humanity.  In  war  times  parents  face  every 
conceivable  possibility  of  destruction  of  the  body,  of 
torture,  of  long  drawn  out  Invalidism.  But  when 
the  worst  physical  event  happens  and  all  is  over,  the 
most  questioning  mind  is  at  rest  when  It  Is  said: 
Our  boy  has  won  out;  he  has  learned  to  be  clean, 
to  be  faithful,  to  be  fearless,  to  live  and  die  like  a 
man.  This  is  the  manifestation  of  a  Son  of  God. 
That  this  comes  true  in  war  time  is  only  the  accl- 
.  dent,  somewhat  more  startling  and  consoling  in  the 
fact  of  its  contrast  with  a  desolating  calamity.  The 
significant  thing  is  that  the  youth  has  caught  the 
secret  of  the  drama  of  the  universe,  so  that  even  the 
onlooker  catches  the  idea.  The  youth  might  have 
died  on  the  opposite  side,  or  he  might  have  been  a 
derided  ^'  conscientious  objector  "  fading  out  In  a 
vile  jail  for  his  religion,  or  he  might  be  conceived 
of  as  returning  safe  from  the  war  to  live  a  long  and 
honored  life,  henceforth  a  true-hearted  servant  of 
humanity.  Our  satisfaction  Is  that  he  has  entered 
upon  his  heritage  of  spiritual  growth  as  a  man. 
This  is  his  normal  life. 

Let  us  agree,  then,  In  the  fact  of  spiritual  evolu- 
tion, and  let  us  not  forget  that  this  means  nothing, 
unless  It  means  that  the  life  of  man,  and  the  world 
that  he  inhabits,  and  all  things  together  in  it,  are 
significant.  They  are  significant  In  that  they  are  In 
some  real  sense  purposeful.  Let  us  not  be  afraid 
to  use  this  word  purpose,  as  distinguished  from 
mere  unpurposeful  motion  that  goes  nowhither. 
We  are  ourselves  compact  of  the  Idea  of  purpose! 


40  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

Nothing  else  is  intelligent;  we  know  purpose  and  de- 
mand it  and  find  life  finally  intolerable  without  it, 
because  we  are  spirit  and  not  matter;  because  our 
home  is  properly  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  things;  be- 
cause the  spirit  of  the  universe,  whatever  we  call 
it,  impresses  upon  us  the  necessity  of  purpose  —  that 
Is,  significant,  upward  movement  of  life.  Not 
until  a  man  has  caught  the  motion  of  purpose  — 
useful,  beneficent  purpose  —  have  we  any  solid 
confidence  or  comfort  In  him.  Our  respect  for  our 
children  is  a  respect  for  the  hope  and  promise  of 
purpose. 

Our  first  proposition  is,  that  we  live  in  a  somewhat 
barbarous  world.  This  will  now  seem  less  oppro- 
brious and  disheartening.  Barbarous  Is  only  a  rela- 
tive word.  We  use  It  at  first  as  we  might  use  the 
word  childish  to  describe  Infants  in  a  nursery. 
They  have  to  be  childish  at  first.  Blame  or  oppro- 
brium comes  Into  the  word  only  when  children  con- 
tinue to  behave  childishly  after  they  ought  to  know 
better.  So  we  use  barbarous  with  two  meanings  In 
describing  the  world  we  live  In.  We  do  not  use  the 
word  as  the  Greeks  perhaps  did,  in  contempt,  to 
blame  or  deride  the  backward  people  around  them. 
We  use  it  almost  cheerfully  to  describe  the  Inhab- 
itants of  Africa  who  have  never  had  a  chance  to  see 
civilization,  before  they  have  seen  It  translated 
through  commerce  Into  rum  and  rifles.  How  could 
they  help  being  barbarians!  But  we  use  the  word 
also  sadly  for  white  men  who  proudly  think  them- 
selves  "  civilized,"  while  they  carry  on  the  works 


SPIRITUAL   EVOLUTION  4 1 

of  barbarians,  lynching  negroes,  for  example.  Each 
side  In  the  Great  War  has  called  Its  enemies  bar- 
barians. No  German  army,  surely,  has  ever  tried 
to  civilize  and  Christianize  war.  But  the  Allies' 
boasted  "  rules  of  the  game  "  have  not  civilized  war. 
The  Allies  adopted  the  war  system,  they  too  de- 
scended to  the  same  field  of  hatred,  they  took  up 
the  same  cruel  Inventions  —  the  submarine,  the 
poison  gas,  the  bombing  of  towns  in  air  raids,  the 
effort  to  reduce  vast  populations  by  hunger,  the  re- 
lentless blockading  of  neutral  States,  the  forcing  of 
unwilling  youth  into  virtual  serfdom,  the  suppres- 
sion of  truth,  the  exaggerated  blackening  of  the 
character  of  enemy  nations,  the  persecution  of  mar- 
tyrs and  heroes.  Each  side  used  barbarism  to  fight 
barbarism.  Meanwhile,  the  church  blessed  and  ex- 
tolled "  our  "  war,  added  violence  to  its  heat  and 
enmity,  called  for  the  exercise  of  murderous  might 
to  crowd  the  enemy  Into  the  dust;  the  church  prac- 
tically abdicated  Its  work  as  a  peace-maker,  aban- 
doned Its  law  of  forgiveness,  and  became  an  adjunct 
of  the  war  department. 

Thank  God  for  the  Innumerable  hands  that 
tended  the  wounded,  but  alas!  they  presently  sent 
them  back  Into  the  heat  of  the  flame,  and  thought 
they  did  God  service.  The  church  did  not  know  or 
teach  otherwise.  Let  us  agree  not  to  talk  about 
"  civilization  "  and  not  to  say  "  Christendom  "  be- 
fore we  have  consented  together  to  put  the  whole- 
sale barbarity  of  war  out  of  the  world! 

My  point  Is  that  we  are  yet  a  barbarous  world. 


42  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

We  all  trace  our  common  descent  from  barbarian 
ancestors. 

Grant  now  that  we  are  passing  through  a  stage 
or  phase  of  human  development ;  what  happened  was 
inevitable  and  necessary;  it  grew  out  of  conditions 
that  had  run  for  centuries.  We  had  inherited  our 
churches  and  courts  and  other  institutions  from  ages 
of  violence  and  ignorance;  they  did  not  fit  our  needs; 
our  religion  was  not  our  own  but  our  forefathers' 
religion.  It  had  not  grown  to  match  our  boasted 
science,  our  hygiene,  and  our  moving  pictures. 
This  is  to  say  that  the  body  and  even  the  wits  of 
our  age  had  outgrown  its  moral  character.  Into 
what  more  dangerous  plight  can  a  youth,  or  a  na- 
tion, or  a  race  fall!  Our  fatality  was  that  we  did 
not  possess  practical  intelligence  enough  to  note  the 
facts  and  treat  them  accordingly.  The  world  had 
grown  arrogant.  It  is  not  my  wish  to  bring  blame, 
but  to  state  what  the  trouble  is  and  to  call  now  and 
henceforth  for  appropriate  treatment. 

When  I  say  that  we  live  in  a  barbarous  world,  I 
wish  to  "  take  account  of  stock."  I  wish  to  mini- 
mize none  of  our  virtues:  we  need  them  all.  But 
we  need  specially  to  view  our  enemies:  they  are  not 
overseas.  Our  pride  of  power,  of  big  census  sta- 
tistics and  wealth,  our  natural  conceit,  our  egotism, 
our  economic  jealousies,  our  suspicions  of  other  na- 
tions, our  exaggerated  nationalism,  our  contempt 
and  hatred,  our  self-will  —  these  are  our  enemies. 
How  can  we  ever  drive  them  out  of  the  world,  as 
long  as  we  harbor  them  in  our  own  hearts  and  con- 


SPIRITUAL  EVOLUTION  43 

done  them?  And  how  can  we  have  a  true  civiliza- 
tion for  our  children  while  these  enemies  govern  and 
distract  the  nations?  Therefore  I  say:  Let  us  be 
honest  and  lay  our  claim  only  to  civilization  as  a 
prize  yet  to  be  won,  doubtless  at  great  cost. 

I  say  all  this  for  a  positive  purpose.  Our  days 
of  "  humiliation  and  prayer  "  have  no  use  unless, 
cutting  down  to  the  bone,  we  build  our  self-respect 
out  of  the  clean  blood  of  a  friendly  humanity.  We 
cannot  live  decently  and  do  our  work  with  effect, 
unless  we  possess  self-respect.  Let  us  hearten  our- 
selves for  our  work.  Like  the  giant  Antaeus,  we 
touch  the  earth  where  we  belong  to  renew  our 
strength,  not  to  continue  to  lie  in  the  dust. 

I  venture  now  to  set  forth  the  most  optimistic 
proposition  that  man  can  believe.  I  maintain  that 
this  barbarous  world,  with  all  its  chaos  and  injustice. 
Is  on  its  way  up  toward  the  light.  This  is  to  claim 
that  the  world  is  growing  better.  I  am  aware  how 
much  sullen  skepticism  there  is  about  this.  I  know 
what  formidable  facts  may  be  cited  against  it.  A 
time  of  war  does  not  look  propitious  for  creeds  of 
hope.  I  appeal  not  only  to  facts,  but  also  to  certain 
significant  guiding  lines  of  human  development 
which  emerge  from  the  facts,  not  less  but  more 
clearly  than  ever  before,  in  spite  of  the  war. 

Let  us  take  a  long  imaginary  leap  backwards  as 
far  as  the  geologists  can  see.  Life,  intelligence, 
consciousness  had  not  yet  come  into  manifest  form. 
Unintelligent  darkness  brooded  over  the  earth.    Let 


44  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

us  next  look  In  on  the  earth  at  whatever  time  man 
first  appeared.  Here  in  the  welter  of  brute  life  is 
a  new  kind  of  creature;  something  wonderful  has 
happened.  He  can  use  language,  think,  study,  con- 
trive, combine  with  others,  know  mother  love.  No 
Rousseau,  however,  wants  to-day  to  return  to  keep 
house  with  this  primitive  man  in  his  cave,  to  hunt 
for  food  with  him,  to  fight  lions  and  tigers  and 
snakes,  to  worship  his  fetishes. 

Come  down  now,  no  one  knows  how  many  thou- 
sands of  years,  and  establish  another  point  of  per- 
spective. We  find  cities  and  temples,  laws  and  a 
certain  order,  ships  on  the  sea,  curious  forms  in 
bronze  and  iron,  poems  and  art,  great  groups  of 
men  bound  in  society,  filling  empires.  We  find  be- 
sides, something  greater  yet,  since  that  earlier  time 
of  the  cave  man.  An  idea  of  righteousness  has  en- 
tered the  world!  Here  and  there  are  men  of  in- 
tegrity, magnanimous  and  purposeful  men.  Such 
men  stand  out  at  the  beginnings  of  the  authentic  his- 
tory of  every  people.  Abraham,  Moses,  Tsaiah  are 
only  names  out  of  one  little  but  wonderfully  signifi- 
cant nation.  Kindliness  has  blossomed  out  into  the 
lives  of  not  a  few  Ruths  and  Naomis,  faithful  unto 
death  for  love's  sake.  There  are  men  who  will  die 
for  one  another.  David  sitting  over  against  the 
beleaguered  wall  in  Bethlehem  had  such  men  about 
him.  There  are  fathers  and  brothers  and  husbands 
like  this.  Behold  here  a  rise  of  the  tide  of  life  on 
the  planet!      It  means  more  to  come. 

Make  a  stand  now  at  the  lifetime  of  Jesus.     No 


SPIRITUAL   EVOLUTION  45 

matter  whether  he  or  some  other  man  was  first  to 
proclaim  a  doctrine  of  brotherhood  and  humanity: 
no  matter  whether  the  Idea  of  forgiveness  had  al- 
ready come  before  him.  His  name  stands  for  the 
dawn  of  a  new  spiritual  era.  Here  Is  a  man,  and 
no  feeble  man  either,  who  carries  the  notion  of  good- 
ness to  the  heart  of  our  modern  world;  here  is  that 
which  we  call  In  some  meaningful  sense  the  love  of 
God.  The  man  possessing  It  knows  how  to  play 
his  part  with  confidence  against  the  blows  of  ill  for- 
tune and  become  stronger;  possessing  It,  any  man 
now  knows  how  to  forgive,  or  better  yet,  not  to  have 
enemies.  And  this  kind  of  man  Is  able  to  go  to  his 
death  unafraid. 

Had  you  never  before  seen  or  known  about  spirit 
and  the  life  of  the  spirit,  seeing  this  kind  of  man 
you  would  have  to  own  that  you  know  now  what 
spirit  Is.  If  only  one  human  life  had  touched  you 
with  the  fact  of  this  secret,  you  would  have  a  new 
thrill  of  experience;  like  a  man  who  has  set  out  some 
new  kind  of  tree  and,  at  last  tasting  Its  fruit,  might 
say:  I  know  now  what  a  peach  Is.  Do  you  im- 
agine that  the  first  cave  man  just  erecting  himself 
above  the  earth,  had  ever  seen  such  a  fruitage  of  the 
tree  of  life  as  this  new  type  of  man,  whom  we  may 
well  dare  to  call  a  son  of  God!  There  is  a  new  ad- 
vancement  of  life  as  soon  as  this  type  appears. 

This  advance  Is  no  less,  but  even  more  remark- 
able. If  you  cite  the  cruel  deeds  and  wicked  people 
who  have  been  the  contemporaries  of  the  new  and 
coming  man.     This  barbarism,   this  suffering,   this 


46  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

poverty,  is  not  significant :  animalism  has  always 
been  in  the  world.  The  wonderful  fact  is  that  we 
see  the  new  life  of  man,  rising  right  out  of  the  an- 
cient barbarism,  overtopping  it,  victorious,  and  per- 
fectly safe  and  indestructible  in  the  midst  of  it. 
This  type  has  come  to  stay.  You  cannot  kill  it;  de- 
stroy it  in  one  place  and  you  may  be  sure  of  presently 
seeing  it  flaming  out  somewhere  else.  It  is  rooted 
in  nature;  it  is  the  work  of  the  arch-poet  of  creation; 
you  are  going  to  see  more  and  ever  more  of  this 
kind  of  men  and  women.  By  and  by  an  irresistible 
demand  will  set  in  for  them.  The  demand  heralds 
a  growing  supply. 

Come  now  to  this  age  of  the  greatest  war  in  all 
history  —  the  blackest  work  of  barbarous  man. 
The  test  of  the  spiritual  health  of  a  people  is  the 
volume  and  the  purity  of  the  humanity  among  them. 
Who  cannot  see  arising  out  of  the  bloody  scenes  of 
the  war  a  marvelous  demonstration  of  the  religion 
beneath  all  the  religions,  that  consists  in  kindliness, 
mutual  aid,  sympathy,  the  desire  to  do  justice,  the 
simple  faith  in  the  victorious  goodness  and  the  will 
to  obey  it !  The  horrid  war  shows  by  contrast  what 
one  day  will  destroy  war.  It  comes  to  many  minds 
as  a  sort  of  revelation  of  humanity.  It  has  ap- 
peared in  especially  beautiful  forms  in  the  United 
States,  in  England,  in  France.  There  is  every  likeli- 
hood that  it  has  appeared  also  among  the  plain  Ger- 
man people  and  the  Russians.  Leaving  out  of  ac- 
count here  the  failure  of  untaught  multitudes  to  see 
the  inhumane  nature  of  war,  confining  our  attention 


SPIRITUAL   EVOLUTION  47 

to  the  simple  and  whole-hearted  efforts  of  an  un- 
known number  of  people  to  show  mercy,  to  meet 
immense  needs,  to  join  hands  with  others  In  a  com- 
mon endeavor  represented  to  them  as  both  patriotic 
and  democratic,  to  vindicate  their  ideals  in  the  only 
way  which  most  of  them  saw  possible,  to  undertake 
In  the  name  of  duty  disgusting  kinds  of  service  which 
they  were  bidden  in  no  way  to  question,  when  did 
ever  the  world  see  a  more  wonderful  display  of  the 
great  human  qualities  which  lie  close  to  the  heart  of 
religion?  When  were  ever  so  many  hands  stretched 
out  to  soldiers'  camps  to  keep  the  boys'  lives  clean, 
sweet,  and  temperate?  When  was  money  so  poured 
forth  in  gifts  to  maintain  hospitals  and  well-fur- 
nished centres  of  recreation?  These  facts  are  all  to 
the  good,  and  very  significant.  They  do  not  render 
war  less  barbarous,  but  they  display  "  the  soul  of 
good  In  things  evil."  They  hardly  belong  to  the 
credit  of  ministers,  teachers,  philosophers,  states- 
men, who  owed  the  people  both  wiser  and  nobler 
leadership.  But  they  demonstrate  an  unexpected 
wealth  of  natural  religion  In  the  common  man.  The 
Christ  type  Is  here. 

So  far  now  from  saying:  See  what  an  occasional 
war  may  do  to  freshen  up  human  life !  —  we  say  the 
opposite.  This  badly  needs  to  be  said.  If  there 
had  been  more  humanity  —  that  Is,  real  rehglon  — 
there  would  have  been  no  war.  If  there  had  been 
more  sympathy,  not  with  "  allies  "  alone,  but  with 
all  people  as  our  friends;  If  there  had  been  not 
merely  a  frantic  burst  of  devotion  for  war  time,  but 


48  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

—  what  must  yet  come  —  a  genuine  devotion  to  the 
service  of  man  for  all  time,  if  there  had  been  moral 
courage  to  think  straight  and  speak  fearlessly,  if 
there  had  been  an  equal  zeal  to  do  justice  as  well  as 
the  rather  easy  willingness  to  compel  others  to  do 
justly,  if  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation  had  been  half 
as  faithfully  led  by  truth,  fairness,  and  modesty  as 
they  were  hustled  and  conscripted  by  the  pride  of 
the  strong,  this  common  fund  of  native  goodness 
would  have  risen  into  heights  of  such  wisdom  and 
effectual  good  will  as  to  have  set  the  world  forward 
by  the  value  of  a  hundred  years. 

We  must  not  be  so  stupid  as  to  make  war  glori- 
ous; we  must  call  It  what  It  always  is,  a  calamity, 
like  the  famine  or  flood  or  pestilence,  only  more  pre- 
ventable by  the  will  of  man.  War  only  calls  out 
goodness  as  a  conflagration  or  any  other  misfortune 
does.  It  reveals  heroes,  because  heroes  are  there 
waiting  to  be  revealed.  Physical  courage  Is  always 
plentiful;  most  healthy  creatures  possess  It.  Do 
not  claim  yet  that  modern  men  hate  to  fight;  the 
brutal  part  of  us  never  hates  battle.  The 
brutal  part  of  human  society  will  long  be  easily 
tempted  to  fight.  The  courage  of  the  new  age  Is  to 
refuse  to  fight,  to  do  something  more  humane  and 
effective.  The  proof  that  man  Is  on  the  way  up 
from  barbarism  will  henceforth  be  measured  by  this 
more  splendid  courage,  which  stands  forth  to  forbid 
war  altogether. 

Some  say  that  the  world  has  been  lately  growing 
corrupt  with  wealth  and  luxury.     I  think  they  are 


SPIRITUAL   EVOLUTION  49 

wrong.  The  world  had  never  been  clean,  humane, 
unselfish.  Only  the  few  ever  possessed  wealth  or 
luxury.  Neither  does  wealth  necessarily  work  to 
corrupt  men  more  than  poverty  does.  The  war 
simply  disclosed  what  careful  watchers  of  the  habits 
and  manners  of  the  nation  had  already  seen;  namely, 
that  there  had  been  quietly  growing  everywhere  the 
beautiful  and  simple  fruitage  of  the  spirit.  There 
had  been  humble  but  real  homes  and  noble  home 
teaching;  in  many  a  neighborhood  or  village  virile 
characters  in  the  persons  of  brave  and  infinitely 
faithful  women,  of  youth  more  noble  than  the 
boasted  knights  of  chivalry  had  been  developed. 
Thousands  of  witnesses  could  be  summoned  to  tes- 
tify to  such  illustrious  facts.  Go  back  with  your 
measuring  rod,  study  the  story  of  each  century  and 
each  province,  and  find,  if  you  can,  a  time  or  place 
of  which  you  may  prove  so  great  and  clean  a  record 
of  men  and  women  who  have  lived  the  simple  life 
as  you  will  find  here  in  America  in  this  startling 
period  of  the  Great  War.  Not  a  century  ago,  not 
in  the  early  New  England,  not  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  not  in  the  so-called  ages  of  faith,  not  in 
the  time  of  the  apostles,  or  the  prophets  of  Israel. 
They  were  too  few,  but  where  had  there  ever  been 
so  many? 

There  is  nothing  so  effective  as  the  divine  urgency 
that  works  to  produce  good  men.  Be  assured  that 
as  soon  as  only  a  somewhat  larger  percentage  of 
such  people  appear  as  we  all  have  known,  with  a  little 
clearer  vision  caught   from  worthier  leaders,   they 


50  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

will  know  how  to  bring  the  secret  of  their  religion, 
not  merely  to  dissolve  the  halo  of  respectability  in 
which  antiquated  churchmen  have  hitherto  invested 
the  barbarous  war  system,  but  also  to  abolish  every 
kind  of  oppressive  abuse  which  our  awakened  eyes 
are  finding  in  the  way  of  the  march  of  men  to  the 
goal  of  their  manhood.^ 

Let  us  agree  then,  though  we  live  in  a  barbarous 
world,  that  it  is  a  world  on  its  way  upward.  It  is  a 
better  world  than  it  ever  was;  there  is  more  human- 
ity in  It  and  therefore  more  vision  of  God;  there  is 
more  and  not  less  promise  In  It ;  that  Is,  more  to  make 
It  worth  while  to  live.  Let  no  real  man  sit  down 
and  despair  of  the  victorious  goodness,  or  the  im- 
measurable possibilities  of  human  destiny.  We  are 
beginning  only  to  use  them,  as  they  exist  In  "  the 
common  man."  Our  key  thought  Is  a  drama  of 
spiritual  evolution.  Do  not  expect  a  progress  and 
betterment  through  the  mere  manifestation  and  ac- 
cumulation    of     things;     expect     spiritual     results 

1 1  may  seem  to  some  to  refer  too  often  to  the  fact  of  war  as 
the  master  evil.  I  do  this  because  the  war  system,  whether  under 
the  name  of  militarism  or  any  other  name,  happens  in  our  age  to 
obtrude  itself  as  the  special  obstacle  in  the  way  of  spiritual  civ- 
ilization. No  one  knows  how  subtly  rooted  and  obstinate  it  is. 
I  do  not  stress  the  colossal  cost  in  life  and  treasure  so  much  as  the 
fact  that  it  sums  up  in  itself  and  symbolizes  the  worst  vices  of 
the  untamed  man  grown  strong  —  his  arrogance  and  selfishness  — 
more  fatal  now  than  ever  for  being  dressed  up  in  the  garb  of  law 
and  authority  and  taking  the  name  of  democracy.  Through  the 
use  of  war  the  pride  and  selfishness  of  the  few  still  make  the 
many  their  dependents,  fasten  themselves  upon  empires,  capture 
majorities,  and  split  the  world  with  fear  and  enmity.  Our  fathers 
found  African  slavery  across  their  path  and  they  called  it  the 
"  sum  of  villanies."  We  face  the  same  villanies  under  the  name 
of  war.     This  is  for  us  "the  irrepressible  conflict." 


SPIRITUAL  EVOLUTION  51 

through  the  growth  of  persons,  like  sons  of  God, 
using  and  controlling  things. 

Our  third  proposition  follows  as  a  matter  of 
course;  it  is  a  personal  appeal.  We  are  here  each 
to  do  his  part  to  make  the  right  prevail,  to  bring  the 
ideal  things  to  pass,  to  carry  continually  the  message 
of  larger  good  will.  This  is  the  meaning  of  every 
man's  life.  There  is  no  real  or  satisfying  life  short 
of  this.  Nothing  else  gives  it  significance.  Only 
this  makes  a  man  happy;  only  this  unifies  his  facul- 
ties and  raises  his  otherwise  petty  experiences  into 
power,  dignity,  and  beauty.  This  kind  of  life  lifts  a 
man  from  a  pagan  or  provincial  to  be  a  citizen  of 
the  universe. 


SECTION  II 

THE  COURSE  OF  SPIRITUAL 
EVOLUTION 

I 

THE    NATURAL    BEGINNINGS    OF    RELIGION 

We  no  longer  think  of  religion  as  revealed  once  for 
all,  ready-made  and  perfect.  It  comes  by  processes 
of  growth,  like  everything  else  human.  Even  if  it 
is  above  man,  it  has  to  fit  the  state  of  mind  in  which 
man  lives.  It  has  to  begin  as  man  begins,  in  vague 
feelings  and  wonder.  It  cannot  be  thoughtful  till 
at  least  some  men  begin  to  think.  It  cannot  inspire 
conduct  till  men  have  learned  through  suffering 
from  oppression  and  cruelty  to  see  their  way  toward 
happier  conduct.  How  many  people  who  speak 
the  name  of  God  mean  the  same  God  that  James 
Martineau,  or  Theodore  Parker  or  Channing  meant? 
What  modern  men  mean  the  same  as  Jesus  meant, 
or  Isaiah?  Do  not  Christians  still  worship  a  war- 
God?  The  fact  is  that  no  one  can  have  a  religion 
that  does  not  measurably  fit  the  growth  of  the  man. 
He  cannot  hold  another  man's  religion. 

We  have  shown  that  the  current  religion  does  not 
fit  the  needs  and  the  thoughts  of  our  times.     We 

53 


54  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

have  also  seen  that  a  better  religion  Is  already  here. 
It  Is  springing  forth  like  the  new  and  sturdy  growth 
about  an  old  decaying  stump.  It  appears  In  un- 
expected places,  as  If  It  grew  from  seeds  that  the 
birds  have  dropped.  Sometimes  Its  seeds  have 
fallen  upon  stony  places.  It  has  not  yet  come  to  Its 
strength  and  beauty,  except  In  individual  lives.  We 
only  begin  to  see  what  it  will  grow  to,  when  once 
It  emerges  from  the  individualism  of  isolated  lives, 
and  becomes  a  fellowship  and  brotherhood  of  all 
loyal-hearted  men  and  women,  devoted  as  an  Irre- 
sistible force  to  civilize  the  earth.  We  shall  gain 
confidence  in  this  nobler  future  by  tracing  the  path- 
way of  man's  spiritual  evolution. 

Life  always  comes  In  by  varied  stages  or  periods. 
There  are  chapters  in  the  book  of.  life,  like  the 
changing  scenes  and  acts  in  the  course  of  a  drama. 
Nature  is  always  taking  us  by  surprise.  If  the  great 
moving  energy  is  always  the  same  —  of  which  we 
can  hardly  be  sure  —  yet  the  effect  Is  rhythmic  and 
seasonal  —  summer  and  winter,  ''  first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  In  the  ear."  There 
are  endless  hidden  possibilities  In  the  universe  and 
therefore  in  man,  Its  child.  What  man  uses  half 
his  powers?  Before  any  man  or  before  the  race  a 
new  epoch  may  suddenly  open.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  life  of  the  spirit,  of  the  affections,  of 
religion. 

There  are  at  least  four  fairly  distinct  epochs  or 
periods  In  man's  spiritual  development.  In  each 
successive  period  there  Is  something  new  that  was 


THE  NATURAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  RELIGION     55 

not  present  except  as  concealed  In  embryo,  in  the 
stage  below. 

Of  course,  we  all  begin  beyond  our  recollections 
in  the  shadow  land  of  Infancy.  The  common  in- 
heritance of  the  animal  world  is  back  of  us.  Is  the 
human  nature  beastly  and  brutal?  How  can  it  be 
otherwise,  seeing  that  innumerable  traits  of  our 
earthy  origin  are  twisted  together  In  us !  We  draw 
our  breath  from  the  time  aeons  ago,  before  the  man 
had  arrived.  It  has  been  said:  "  Scratch  a  Russian 
and  you  find  a  Tartar."  Make  this  universal:  Rub 
any  man  the  wrong  way  and  you  awaken  the  animal. 
This  Is  "  the  old  man  "  of  whom  Paul  wrote.  He 
wrote  bitterly,  blaming  himself  for  an  Inevitable 
fact  of  life.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  man  who  Is  to 
be,  not  that  the  animal  has  died,  but  that  the  man 
''  knowing  himself,"  as  Socrates  said,  controls  and 
uses  the  animal.     Browning  has  the  truth  of  it: 

"  Nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now,  than  flesh  helps  soul." 

But  even  in  baby  life,  strangely  feebler  and  more 
helpless  than  any  other  animal's  infancy,  there  come, 
as  every  parent  knows,  foregleams  and  intimations, 
if  not  of  immortality,  of  the  wonderful  possibilities 
of  the  coming  man.  What  other  young  creature 
smiles  and  laughs  as  your  baby  does?  What  other 
creature  puts  forth  such  tendrils  of  intelligence, 
or  a  more  determined  will  to  stand  and  walk? 
Neither  does  any  one  blame  the  little  child  for  his 
thunder-storms  of  anger  or  his  sullen  moods  of  ob- 
stinacy.    Even  the  theologians  had  to  fix  the  blame 


56  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

for  these  childish  outbreaks  on  our  distant  fore- 
father Adam! 

So  much  for  the  hazy  beginnings  of  hfe.  The 
origins  of  the  world  and  all  things  in  it  are  neces- 
sarily surrounded  with  the  mists.  Of  what  possible 
use  would  it  be  to  remember  infancy?  When,  now, 
does  a  child  pass  up  out  of  this  innocent  period  into 
the  next  stage  of  its  spiritual  growth?  There 
comes  a  time  when  you  blame  the  child,  and,  what 
is  more  important,  the  child  accepts  blame.  Some- 
thing new  has  happened  to  him.  To  sin  is  to  incur 
blame.  What  else  is  it?  It  is  doubtless  the  dawn 
of  self-consciousness.  The  disobedient  or  willful 
child  has  at  first  no  sense  of  offense;  but  the  same 
child  presently  feels  somehow,  like  one  groping  in 
the  dark,  an  alteration  in  the  behavior  —  the  looks 
and  tones  —  of  those  around  it.  Disobedience 
changes  the  bearings  of  life  and  puts  the  child  out- 
side good  society.  Disobedience  —  that  is,  unsocial 
conduct  —  checks  the  flow  of  the  social  life. 

Now,  the  spiritual  life  has  its  birth  when  this 
social  consciousness,  the  inner  feeling  of  self,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  any  other  mode  of  feeling  —  of  self 
as  related  to  other  selves  —  wakes  up  in  us.  This 
consciousness  of  self  —  the  sense  that  /  am  —  is  one 
of  the  ultimate  mysteries.  Where  can  we  possibly 
place  it,  except  in  the  terms  of  the  spirit?  It  is  es- 
sential to  life,  and  yet  Invisible  and  immeasurable  — 
not  a  thing  at  all,  and  yet  the  most  undeniable  of 
facts.  The  scientific  investigator  Is  as  much  bafiled 
to  account  for  it  as  any  of  us.     Try  to  define  it,  and 


THE  NATURAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  RELIGION     57 

you  have  only  shifted  your  question  from  one  set 
of  words  to  other  and  probably  harder  words. 
Why  not  leave  it,  where  it  belongs  —  a  form  of 
spirit,  a  manifestation  of  the  universe  Hfe  or  God? 
It  is  through  the  unfolding  compass  of  this  myste- 
rious consciousness  that  the  tiny  groping  child  will 
some  day  weigh  the  stars  and  commune  with  God 
and  command  a  new  world. 

We  say  that  the  child  passes  through  infancy  into 
the  moral  or  spiritual  realm  —  a  quite  new  stage  of 
life.  No  one  can  say  just  how  or  when  the  change 
comes.  Nature,  on  the  edge  of  the  widest  differ- 
ences, draws  no  sharp  lines.  Nature  blends  her 
colors  and  proceeds  by  subtle  gradations.  Every 
new  birth  is  heralded  by  premonitory  symptoms;  it 
never  translates  the  new  life  into  immediate  fulfill- 
ment. Few  can  probably  recall  the  day  when  they 
first  knew  themselves  as  full  and  responsible  selves. 
Even  so,  was  there  no  twilight  zone  on  the  uncon- 
scious side  of  that  red-letter  day?  With  most  of 
us,  too,  the  first  gleams  of  the  conscious  will  are  apt 
to  suffer  strange  lapses  into  the  earlier  darkness. 
Nevertheless,  each  new  growth  of  the  soul  —  each 
vital  experience  —  carries  it  up  above  ground,  as  it 
were,  into  the  moral  realm.  The  conscious  moral 
realm  is  as  different  a  place  from  that  where  life 
began  as  daylight  from  darkness.  You  find  nothing 
in  the  most  intelligent  animals  that  corresponds  to 
this  change  that  comes  early  in  the  career  of  the 
man.  We  measure  the  child  as  more  or  less  normal 
according  to  the  distinctness  of  the  change  through 


58  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

which  responsible  self-conscious  will  is  evolved  in 
him.  We  may  say  that  by  five  or  six  years  of  age 
the  moral  life  ought  fairly  to  have  begun. 

This  new  period  of  growth  does  not  seem  at  once 
to  be  a  great  boon  to  the  child  itself  or  any  one  else. 
It  is  a  period  of  uncertain  and  tedious  experimenta- 
tion. Few  parents  or  teachers  know  how  to  give 
the  child  valid  help.  Is  it  perhaps  necessary  that 
he  should  try  to  find  out  for  himself  what  he  can  do 
with  his  newly  discovered  "  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil"?  How  far  can  he  assert  himself  over  the 
lines  of  disobedience?  How  important,  or  even 
dangerous,  can  he  make  himself  in  his  small  sphere 
of  influence?  He  has  found  his  way  into  the  wil- 
derness. What  resources,  what  strange  fruits,  what 
tingling  possibilities  of  adventure  are  here? 

We  are  not  far  astray  in  calling  this  the  pagan 
period.  Most  of  us  begin  it  as  little  barbarians. 
I  use  these  words  in  no  odious  sense.  The  only  odi- 
ous pagans  and  barbarians  are  the  belated  and  so- 
phisticated ones.  The  natural  savage  or  barbarian 
has  all  kinds  of  good  human  qualities.  Travelers 
who  know  him  best  represent  him  as  companionable 
and  often  affectionate;  as  capable  of  splendid  loyalty, 
brave  and  exceedingly  patient,  religious  too  in  a  dim 
way,  with  notions,  perhaps,  of  the  Great  Spirit;  as 
very  susceptible  to  good  leadership.  These  things 
may  be  said  of  boys  and  girls.  Show  them  your 
best  side  and  they  answer  to  it;  they  can  also  play 
the  part  of  the  savage  at  short  notice.  Every  fac- 
ulty to  make  trouble  is  in  them  —  untamed  appetites. 


THE  NATURAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  RELIGION     59 

ugly  passions,  sullen  resentments,  greedy  selfishness, 
queer  superstitions.  Do  you  always  love  to  hear 
them  "  say  their  prayers  "?  How  much  like  older 
people  —  or  heathen  —  they  are  with  their  "  vain 
repetitions  "  I  At  their  worst,  however,  they  are 
never  so  much  to  blame  as  those  older  people  who 
lose  their  temper  and  become  pagan,  just  when 
children  need  firm  and  friendly  hands  to  steady 
them. 

In  general,  the  child,  like  the  pagan,  lacks  defi- 
nite purpose  or  aim.  He  sways  and  wavers  in  his 
moods;  he  is  good  and  bad,  kindly  and  cruel  by 
turns;  he  is  loving  and  lovable,  with  little  con- 
stancy; he  is  capable  of  shocking  outbursts  of  pas- 
sion, or  deeds  of  shame;  his  morality  is  not  yet  his 
own  so  much  as  the  tribal  or  group  or  family  or  gang 
morals,  which  may  shore  him  up  for  the  time.  This 
is  the  way  of  nature.  The  child  learns  to  walk  or 
climb  or  swim  by  experiments  and  failures.  No  one 
else  can  do  it  for  him.  Neither  can  he  ever  become 
a  man  except  at  last  by  his  own  self-determination 
or  purpose.  This  may  come  early  or  very  late;  it 
may  be  assisted  by  friendly  wisdom,  or,  most  sor- 
rowful of  all,  actual  retrogression  may  set  in  like  a 
blight  in  the  wheat.  How  strangely  the  conduct  of 
the  pagan  or  the  wild  child  resembles  that  of  multi- 
tudes of  grown  people.  They  too  have  not  out- 
grown their  childhood.  The  world  cries  out  upon 
"  the  unspeakable  Turk."  For  the  Turk  with  the 
appurtenances  of  civilization  goes  on  doing  the  deeds 
of  the  barbarian.     But  the  Turks  are  not  the  only 


6o  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

wild  people  who  commit  brutalities  in  the  modern 
man's  dress! 

The  Puritan  mothers  used  to  wonder  how  early  a 
child  might  be  "  converted."  How  soon  could  his 
soul  be  saved?  They  did  not  know  how  real  and 
practical  the  change  for  which  they  looked  was. 
They  looked  upon  it  as  supernatural  and  often  made 
it  seem  repulsive.  They  did  not  see  how  joyously 
the  human  life  takes  on  new  powers  and  aptitudes. 
This  is  the  spiritual  nature.  They  called  the  law- 
less, care-free  life  natural;  they  did  not  recognize 
that  the  orderly,  obedient,  purposeful  life  is  still 
more  natural.  The  child  loves  to  be  free,  but  he 
loves  even  more  to  be  useful.  He  is  naturally  an 
individual,  but  he  is  also  social  by  nature.  He  loves 
to  use  his  power  for  mischief  rather  than  be  idle ;  but 
he  can  be  even  more  interested  in  using  his  fuller 
powers  for  good. 

The  fact  is  that  there  is  a  simple  and  happy  relig- 
ion which  fits  the  happy,  active,  growing,  intelli- 
gent child.  It  may  come  as  early  as  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age.  It  may  not  be  very  marked  at  first. 
He  would  not  be  able  to  define  it  to  himself.  You 
might  discover,  however,  in  some  moment  of  inti- 
mate confidences  that  he  has  a  bit  of  a  creed  some- 
what like  this :  I  mean  to  do  right,  to  tell  the  truth, 
to  live  a  clean  life,  to  be  kind  and  accommodating, 
and  to  make  no  trouble.  I  want  to  trust  the  good 
Power  over  me  and  to  do  his  will.  The  Boy  Scouts' 
Law  is  not  uncongenial  to  boys,  or  girls  either ! 


THE  NATURAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  RELIGION     6 1 

There  is  a  child's  natural  religion.  If  his  parents 
and  teachers  and  friends  are  on  the  side  of  the  good, 
he  wants  to  be  with  them.  Boys  and  girls  dislike  a 
prig,  but  they  like  any  one  who  is  simple  and  true- 
hearted.  The  httle  creed  is  the  straight  way  of  our 
average  human  destiny.  Every  one  at  his  best  likes 
it.  The  work  of  life  is  to  keep  to  it.  The  fact  is 
that  we  are  naturally  path-finders  and  road-makers. 
We  have  a  journey  to  make.  The  sooner  we  find 
ourselves  on  the  way,  the  better  we  like  it.  A  pur- 
pose in  life  is  the  beginning  of  the  way.  Any  in- 
telligent child  can  see  this.  To  see  it  and  do  it  is  to 
enter  upon  the  third  period  of  the  growth  of  a  soul. 
A  child  in  the  grip  of  any  honest  purpose  has  taken 
a  branch  road  leading  toward  the  grand  highway  of 
Civilization. 

They  used  to  think  that  a  child,  once  the  "  subject 
of  grace,"  was  sure  to  remain  so.  But  a  child's 
will  is  inconstant.  Few  are  born  with  a  will  to  be 
right  and  do  right.  A  habit  of  action  strong  enough 
to  protect  the  boy's  good  intent  is  slow  and  costly 
to  build:  it  means  an  accumulation  of  innumerable 
efforts  of  will.  The  great  decision  is  yet  to  come. 
For  man's  life  is  not  made  merely  to  fit  into  a  little 
orderly  scheme  of  family  or  racial  or  even  national 
loyalty.  It  is  not  a  man's  work  "  to  be  good,  and 
thus  to  be  happy,"  but,  as  Prof.  George  H.  Palmer 
has  said,  to  be  "  good  for  something  "  so  large  and 
spiritual  as  to  require  every  original  faculty,  and 
never  to  cease  to  fill  his  mind  and  heart,  and  ever  to 


62  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

present  new  visions.  There  is  something  in  the 
heart  of  a  man  that  cannot  be  satisfied  if  you  give 
him  all  that  he  wants  of  comfort,  of  prosperity,  of 
happiness,  of  success.  The  eager  youth,  outgrowing 
childhood  and  feeling  his  way  to  a  grown  man's  es- 
tate, must  face  the  question  of  the  ages,  in  our  age 
clearer  than  ever:  What  does  life  mean?  What  is 
the  truth  of  it?  What  will  you  do  with  it?  In  the 
"  strife  'twixt  truth  and  falsehood,"  in  the  everlast- 
ing struggle  for  love's  sake,  which  side  will  you 
take?  Call  the  work  of  life  a  battle,  or  call  it  ef- 
fort, enterprise,  venture,  sooner  or  later  the  chal- 
lenge comes :  What  will  you  do  about  it?  The  voice 
of  the  best  self  in  the  man  presses  him  onward. 
Will  he  choose  the  everlasting  Yeal  To  say  this  in 
earnest,  to  set  his  will  upon  it,  to  open  his  mind  to  its 
motions,  to  open  his  heart  to  its  wide-sweeping  sym- 
pathies, is  to  enter  the  estate  of  his  manhood.  To 
fall  back,  to  be  selfish,  not  to  dare,  is  "  the  great  re- 
fusal." 

Again,  as  before,  I  am  not  saying  that  you  may  fix 
any  point  when  this  happy  maturing  process  dis- 
tinctly begins.  Varying  experiences  mark  it  with  dif- 
ferent Individuals.  To  some  it  may  come  like  a 
"  new  birth  " ;  to  others,  like  the  high  northern  sun- 
rise, as  a  gradual  and  brightening  dawn.  The 
voices  of  nature  call  some  to  It.  I  knew  a  man  who, 
being  a  hunter,  saw  it  In  the  look  on  a  little  slain 
fawn's  face,  and  he  never  went  shooting  again. 
Some  find  it  in  the  story  of  Jesus.  They  vow  to  give 
their  lives  with  him  for  the  service  of  God.     Wen- 


THE  NATURAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  RELIGION      63 

dell  Phillips  rose  to  it  in  the  call  to  speak  for  the 
cause  of  the  slave  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Henry  George 
came  to  it  in  working  out  his  "  Progress  and  Pov- 
erty." Socialism  has  been  the  name  of  the  door  by 
which  some  have  found  it.  A  certain  access  of  vi- 
sion is  characteristic  of  it  —  a  certain  devotion,  a 
purpose  beyond  any  private  or  personal  ends  or  am- 
bition. Any  one  of  the  great  words  by  which  men 
have  sought  to  name  the  Universe  Life  —  Beauty, 
Truth,  Justice,  Goodness,  Love  —  suffices  to  sym- 
bolize the  infinite  nature  of  this  new  quest  and  pur- 
pose. 

There  is  no  time  in  hfe  too  advanced  for  the  vision 
or  challenge  to  come.  Refused  once  and  again,  it 
may  haunt  a  man's  soul  and  return  to  win  his  will. 
Not  till  middle  age  did  Tolstoy  catch  the  note  of 
that  new  life  which  raised  him  forever  above  his 
times.  The  truth  is,  that  we  all  are  of  the  nature  of 
spirit.  The  spirit  comes  and  goes  as  the  wind 
comes,  as  thought  comes,  as  love  comes :  no  one  can 
predict  its  movements. 

But  the  time  of  all  times,  the  time  of  the  normal 
entrance  of  any  life  on  its  spiritual  inheritance,  is  m 
youth.  Youth  itself  is  an  epoch  inviting  change  -- 
the  period  of  determination.  Youth  brings  special 
susceptibilities  to  generous  thought,  and  even  to 
cheerful  sacrifice.  To  give  one's  life  is  a  natural  im- 
pulse  in  youth.  Militarism  has  taken  advantage  of 
this.  The  grown  man's  religion  only  asks  more; 
namely,  that  the  youth  shall  give  his  life  not  to  die 
but  to  live  —  to  live,  as  one  willing  also  to  die,  for 


64  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

every  good  cause  for  which  true  men  In  all  times 
have  held  their  lives  and  fortunes  In  trust.  Youth, 
too,  is  the  special  period  of  love.  And  religion  Is 
love,  deepening  every  personal  love,  and  adding  new 
meaning  to  love-making,  to  marriage,  to  the  home, 
to  the  coming  of  children,  to  the  risks  and  ventures 
of  love,  to  death  itself. 

One  of  the  most  serious  counts  against  the  current 
religion  is  that  no  branch  of  the  church  has  known 
how  to  make  proper  use  of  the  period  of  youth  as 
the  time  to  induct  its  boys  and  girls  into  their  her- 
itage as  children  of  God.  What  church  has  seri- 
ously tried  to  do  this?  What  church  has  ever  pos- 
sessed a  membership  mature  enough  in  experiences  of 
spiritual  manhood  and  womanhood,  to  help  its  youth 
to  find  the  reality  of  religion?  They  have  had  to 
unlearn  false  religions  and  grope  to  find  the  good 
religion.  There  has  never  been  civilization  enough 
in  the  world,  or  churches  fit  to  make  ready  for  a 
civilized  religion. 


II 

CHANGING    HUMAN   NATURE 

It  is  not  enough  to'  catch  a  vision  of  the  larger  life, 
or  even  to  take  an  enlistment  oath  to  follow  it. 
The  vision  needs  perpetual  renewal  and  re-invlgor- 
ation.  Every  fresh  turn  of  the  kaleidoscope  of  expe- 
rience brings  new  meaning  and  momentum.  Al- 
ways, as  in  childhood,  it  takes  an  accumulated  series 
of  determined  acts  of  the  will  to  set  the  habit  of  the 
life.  Through  repeated  and  often  costly  experiences 
and  ventures  one  finds  how  fine  and  workable  the 
life  is.  It  involves  falls  and  lapses  too,  as  in  every 
new  trade  or  art,  where  the  learner  gets  his  lessons 
and  has  to  make  new  adjustments.  It  calls  for  tre- 
mendous risks,  where  truth  and  right  and  love  seem 
to  put  aside  success,  money,  place,  popularity,  every 
selfish  desire;  where  it  is  defeat  to  retreat  or  vacil- 
late; where  wonderful  access  of  life,  as  if  from  the 
depths  of  being,  flows  in,  in  case  we  go  on. 

The  most  perilous  time  of  life  for  most  men  is 
not  in  boyhood  or  early  youth,  or  on  the  side  of  the 
appetites  and  passions.  It  comes  after  one  has  "  got 
his  education,"  and  attained  physical  growth,  and 
even  after  he  has  '*  got  his  religion."  The  great 
danger  at  this  point  is  that,  when  the  real  life  should 
properly  begin,  the  man  may  halt  and  stagnate;  he  is 

65 


66  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

"  grown  up  "  now!  They  put  "  Mr.,"  the  title  of 
Master,  before  his  name,  when  he  is  nothing  at  best 
but  an  apprentice.  How  many  people  actually  grow 
better,  wiser,  more  lovable,  more  useful  after  they 
are  twenty-five  years  old?  Is  this  because  the  sys- 
tem under  which  we  live,  the  industries,  the  com- 
merce, the  business,  the  social  and  political  relations 
are  all  awry  as  regards  the  real  enterprise  of  men 
set  here  to  civilize  the  earth? 

No  wonder  the  Socialists  tell  us  that  the  world  is 
out  of  joint,  if  men  and  women,  the  most  precious 
product  of  the  universe,  have  nothing  to  look  for- 
ward to  after  they  come  to  their  maturity!  Do  we 
grow  only  in  childhood,  and  then,  at  our  maximum  of 
bodily  development,  are  we  doomed  to  stop  growing, 
to  think  no  new  thoughts,  to  learn  no  new  and  richer 
joys  or  secrets  of  wisdom?  Is  childhood  meant  to 
be,  as  some  say,  the  only  happy  part  of  life?  What 
would  you  think  of  your  wheat  field,  if  only  one 
seed  in  a  hundred  ever  grew  up  to  bear  fruit?  This 
is  to  make  futility  of  the  world.  It  is  to  find  no 
purpose  in  evolution;  it  is  to  deny  the  most  significant 
facts  in  human  history.  Wait  till  you  see  what  re- 
ligion can  do  and  does  for  the  average  man,  not  only 
for  rare  and  gifted  minds. 

Here  lies  the  worst  heresy  of  the  popular  religion; 
it  is  also  the  practical  outcome  of  much  current  phil- 
osophy. The  profoundest  of  questions  touches  the 
improvability  of  the  common  man.  Is  he  worth 
while?  say  the  skeptical  men  from  their  chairs  in 
the  university.     Is  he  worth  while?  say  the  masters 


CHANGING  HUMAN   NATURE  67 

of  business,  who  use  men  as  so  many  tools.  Does 
the  church  say,  Yes,  as  a  church  with  a  gospel  should 
say  it?  The  church,  content  with  baptizing  men  or 
enrolling  their  names,  doubts  their  capacity  to  live 
and  grow  to  their  stature  as  men.  It  expects  the 
least  possible  of  them.  It  has  no  faith  in  the 
"  Third  Person  "  of  its  Trinity,  to  bring  forth  "  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit "  in  average  men.  And  so  it 
happens  that  the  churches  are  full  of  people  who 
seem  no  better  at  sixty  and  seventy  than  they  were 
at  eighteen.  Yet  both  the  future  of  religion  and 
the  fate  of  democracy  rest  upon  the  faith  In  the 
improvability  of  common  men.  Yes !  and  not  alone 
in  a  few  races  which  just  now  dominate  the  others. 
Common  men,  we  say,  in  all  races.  We  can  have 
vassal  races  no  longer. 

But,  they  still  say,  you  cannot  change  human 
nature.  What  do  they  mean?  Human  nature  is 
in  constant  process  of  change.  Watch  your  willful 
boy.  Some  day  he  catches  a  spark,  an  Idea,  and 
lo !  a  changed  man  grows  out  of  him,  which  no  peda- 
gogue of  "  vocational  training  "  could  have  known 
was  waiting  there  to  be  evolved.  Do  you  suppose 
that  when  such  changes  may  come  to  any  boy  or 
girl  before  twenty-one  years  of  age,  similar  gleams 
of  the  light  of  the  spirit  may  not  be  looked  for  al- 
ways afterward?  The  law  of  their  coming  Is  that 
you  look  for  them.  Even  a  pet  dog  grows  In  In- 
telligence as  you  expect  it  of  him,  and  grows  little 
without  such  encouragement.  What  can  you  not 
do  with  men,  when  every  one  looks  for  the  best  in 


68  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

them,  and  hope  stands  before  every  man's  eyes  to 
the  last! 

They  tell  us  that  each  infant  is  made  to  pass 
through  ancient  phases  of  the  life  of  the  race.  A 
child  may  have  dim  reminiscences  of  the  wild  world, 
its  storms  and  its  monsters,  through  which  his  fore- 
fathers once  made  their  way.  Each  child  thus  fol- 
lows the  line  of  the  host  that  preceded  him.  At 
the  other  and  ascending  end  of  the  spiral  movement 
of  life  we  find  a  complementary  and  marvelously 
prophetic  process  in  motion.  Here  the  new  life  ap- 
pears first  in  the  individual  —  in  the  tips  of  the 
branches,  in  early  fruits  venturing  themselves  on 
sunny  hill-sides  in  new  varieties  and  types,  bursting 
forth  from  the  never-failing  fountain  of  nature,  in 
new  faculties  prompted  to  birth  under  pressure  of 
unwonted  conditions.  Behind  these  pioneers  and 
forerunners  follow  the  host.  After  the  early  ber- 
ries all  the  fields  will  be  full  of  them. 

So  with  the  life  of  the  spirit  of  man.  Again  and 
again  individuals  brought  to  birth  —  God  only 
knows  how  —  have  shown  the  precious  new  life. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  old  pagan  world  was  chilly; 
the  conditions  of  culture  hardly  existed.  They 
were  nevertheless  prophetic  of  what  shall  be  in  due 
time.  Already  a  warmer  humanity  is  in  the  air. 
Wait!  The  few  shall  be  many.  The  period  of 
paganism  is  passing  away.  It  has  become  intoler- 
able. Close  to  the  terrible  war  we  look  on  at  an  age 
of  transition.  The  doubting,  half-pagan  church 
thought  that  only  one  Christ,  one  Son  of  God,  could 


CHANGING  HUMAN   NATURE  69 

appear.  The  rest  of  mankind,  half-pagan  still, 
should  get  into  heaven,  if  they  ever  arrived,  clinging 
to  the  hem  of  his  garments.  But  the  world  shall  yet 
see,  as  good  "  Father  Taylor  "  once  said,  thousands 
of  such,  the  thoughtful,  the  helpful,  the  lovable  and 
the  loving,  the  brave  too,  the  forceful  and  fearless. 
The  path  of  progress  leads  upward.  The  age  of 
the  good  spirit  Is  before  us.  If  not  now,  the  fields 
will  yet  be  ripe. 


Ill 

THE    PHARISEE   WORLD 

I  HAVE  roughly  sketched  three  great  normal  stages 
of  man's  spiritual  evolution  out  of  primitive  ignor- 
ance. In  the  first  the  child,  or  the  early  man,  find- 
ing his  way  to  self-consciousness,  gets  his  initial  les- 
sons of  good  and  evil,  tries  his  powers,  and  comes  up 
against  the  social  restraints  within  which  even  the 
life  of  the  savage  man  is  bounded.  In  the  second 
stage  the  growing  child  normally  catches  for  himself 
the  sense  of  law  and  order,  or  justice,  and  more  or 
less  willingly  assents  to  the  simple  social  laws  which 
constitute  good  membership  in  the  family,  or  the 
village.  This  is  the  period  of  learning  righteousness, 
although  with  narrow  sympathies.  It  is  unlikely, 
however,  that  there  was  ever  a  time  when  men,  being 
all  alike  face  to  face  with  common  perils,  did  not 
share  some  dim  sense  of  neighborliness  with  stran- 
gers, men  in  distress.  In  the  third  stage,  to  which, 
alas !  so  far  few  have  fairly  come,  the  normal  or 
mature  man  is  here.  His  righteousness  widens  into 
humanity;  he  has  caught  the  vision  of  a  divine  pur- 
pose, so  grand  as  to  comprehend  all  good  for  all 
men;  his  will,  no  longer  constrained,  even  by  the 
bond  of  duty,  becomes  a  happy  will,  one  with  the 
great  Good  Will,  now  conceived  to  rule  the  world. 

70 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  ^1 

Upon  each  of  these  stages  or  periods  of  natural 
growth,  grading  into  each  other  upwards,  are  super- 
imposed various  phases,  often  more  or  less  morbid, 
but  some  of  them  natural  and  necessary  for  the  time. 
There  is  hardly  any  even  and  all-round  growth  in 
the  human  body  or  the  mind,  much  less  In  society. 

Among  the  great  phases  of  religious  development, 
the  Pharisee  type  or  sect  stands  out  conspicuously. 
I  am  aware  that  the  name  Pharisee  has  earned  im- 
mense opprobrium.  But  I  wish  to  pay  my  respects 
to  the  Pharisees.  The  time  has  come  to  study  their 
movement,  as  one  studies,  for  Instance,  the  history 
of  the  Republican  Party  in  American  politics,  to 
whom  indeed,  in  their  rise  and  their  subsequent  per- 
version, in  their  faults  and  their  virtues,  they  bear  a 
singular  likeness.  If  the  Pharisee  faults  have  at 
last  become  odious,  if  the  sect  has  done  Its  work  and 
deserves  to  pass  away  In  favor  of  a  more  humane 
order,  we  shall  not  help  to  bring  this  better  growth 
by  abuse  and  denunciation.  It  is  Idle  to  try  to 
reach  and  help  people  who  cannot  recognize  them- 
selves In  our  description  of  them. 

I  am  speaking  of  Pharisees  as  still  here  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  They  are  no  longer  a  Jewish 
sect,  but  a  numerous  and  powerful  body.  They 
have  moved  over  from  Judaism  and  captured  the 
great  current  forms  of  Christianity.  They  dom- 
inate and  largely  characterize  Christendom.  Ask 
what  is  the  religion  of  the  governmental  people  in 
the  great  fighting  nations?  It  Is  practically  Phari- 
saism.    We  live  In  a  "  Pharisee  world."     Among 


72  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  races  of  mankind  our  own  Anglo-Saxon  or  Teu- 
tonic stock  has  been  specially  prone  to  Pharisaism. 
It  goes  with  their  characteristic  energy.  It  is  ex- 
cessive in  proportion  to  the  forcefulness  and  adven- 
turousness  of  a  well-fed  and  prosperous  people. 

I  speak  as  a  son  of  New  England  Pharisees,  that 
little  Puritan  group  of  emigrants  to  whose  virtue  and 
constancy,  to  whose  conscience  and  saintship,  in  the 
case  of  its  exceptional  individuals,  many  a  historian 
has  traced  the  most  effective  moral  strain  in  the  up- 
building of  our  American  Commonwealth.  I  have 
had  opportunity  from  childhood  to  know  the  Puritan 
virtues  and  no  less  to  see  the  subtle  vices  which  have 
brought  ridicule  and  even  detestation  upon  both 
Pharisees  and  Puritans;  for  they  are  essentially  one 
type  of  humanity.  The  sect  followed  a  natural 
human  tendency.  There  may  always  be  those  who 
pass  up  for  a  period  through  the  Pharisee  gateway. 

Who  were  the  Pharisees?  How  do  they  come 
to  be?  They  are  the  "  law  and  order"  men.  As 
soon  as  human  society  begins,  there  is  a  differentia- 
tion of  type  and  function.  We  see  it  in  children  on 
the  playground;  we  see  it  in  rude  forms  in  a  mining 
town.  The  average  inhabitant  is  careless,  ignorant, 
indifferent,  "  pagan  ";  he  takes  life  as  it  comes;  he  is 
susceptible  to  either  good  or  bad  leadership;  he  will 
take  part  in  a  lynching,  and  he  will  rally  to  a  prayer 
meeting,  or  a  revival  of  religion;  whatever  he  does, 
he  is  apt  not  to  continue  long  in  a  single  direction. 
He  is  readily  distracted.  Such  is  the  childish  state 
of  mind,  out  of  which  multitudes  never  seem  to  rise. 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  73 

Have  these  people  souls?  it  Is  contemptuously  asked. 
As  the  High  Priest  of  Jerusalem  says:  "  This  people 
that  know  not  the  law" — that  is,  our  order,  our 
purpose  — "  shall  perish." 

But  out  of  the  average  and  ordinary  there  arise 
clearer  intelligences  and  consciences  sensitive  enough 
to  discern  the  beginnings  of  law.  It  is  the  recog- 
nition and  the  use  of  law  more  than  anything  else 
that  at  first  distinguish  man  from  the  dumb  crea- 
tures. We  modern  people,  accustomed  to  find  law 
on  every  side  of  us,  hardly  realize  how  startling  it 
must  have  been  to  earlier  men  to  come  upon  the  idea 
of  law  as  regnant!  Certain  Hebrew  Psalms  give 
us  a  thrill  of  sympathy  with  those  who  for  the  first 
time,  like  men  who  had  never  before  seen  blue  sky, 
voice  their  wonder  and  awe  at  this  new  thought. 
'^  How  love  I  thy  law:  it  Is  my  meditation  all  the 
day."  Have  the  words  law^  order,  unity,  purpose, 
progress  grown  so  stale  with  us  that  we  cannot  see 
how  tremendous  they  are?  It  is  the  birth  of  relig- 
ion when  any  one  sees  the  law  written  everywhere 
in  nature.  To  see  this  is  the  beginning  of  righteous- 
ness. To  obey  law,  to  do  right,  seems  henceforth 
enough,  simple,  beautiful,  necessary,  effective.  How 
can  men  live  outside  of  this  law?  The  man  has  the 
clutch,  or  is  held  In  the  clutch,  of  an  ultimate  mys- 
tery—  one  of  the  eternal  facts  of  his  spiritual 
nature.  His  new  reverence  Is  one  with  the  awe  and 
wonder  with  which  we  view  the  stars.  Let  any  man 
be  glad  who  has  had  the  vision  of  righteousness! 
Let  him  beware  if  his  enthusiasm  for  It  has  cooled! 


74  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Now  the  original  and  genuine  Pharisee  loved  his 
law  I 

When  Jesus  was  born,  the  great  burst  of  spiritual 
vision  which  had  shown  Itself,  perhaps  first  in  Moses' 
time.  In  men  who  had  watched  the  heavens  from  the 
deserts  of  Egypt,  and  later  on  the  hills  of  Judea,  in 
great  prophets,  in  Micah  and  Isaiah,  in  Athens  also 
in  poets  and  thinkers,  which  had  swept  over  distant 
India  and  China  and  produced  Buddhism  and  Con- 
fucianism, had  crystallized  into  a  vigorous  Hebrew 
sect.  They  were  the  "  covenanters  "  of  their  time; 
they  were  the  best  people,  the  respectables,  the  intel- 
lectuals, not  necessarily  the  wealthiest,  but  always 
and  everywhere  Influential  beyond  their  numbers. 
Where  would  you  have  chosen  to  be  asked  to  dinner 
rather  than  to  the  chief  Pharisee's  house?  Where 
would  you  have  met  more  Intelligent  company  or 
better  mannered  children?  Where  were  women 
more  respected?  If  you  had  visited  in  Jerusalem  or 
Capernaum  or  Alexandria  or  Babylon,  you  would 
have  liked  to  attend  the  Pharisee's  simple  and  free 
synagogue  service.  Its  form  must  have  been  some- 
thing like  a  Quaker  meeting.  Its  special  call  was  the 
worship  of  the  law.  Whatever  else  was  done,  some- 
one must  read  from  the  "  book  of  the  law  ";  if  he 
chose,  he  might  make  comments  upon  it.  This  syna- 
gogue worship  which  had  sprung  up  wherever  Jews 
went  in  the  Roman  Empire  did  not  conflict  at  all 
with  the  ornate  ritualism,  for  which  people  had  to 
come  as  pilgrims  to  the  temple  In  Jerusalem.  You 
might  only  see  the  Inside  of  the  temple  once  in  a  life- 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  75 

time,  but  you  must  go  to  the  synagogue  every  Sab- 
bath, Here  was  the  perpetual  teaching  of  the  law; 
here  children  learning  to  read  and  write  their  let- 
ters, perhaps  on  the  ground  or  floor,  had  the  better 
part  of  their  schooling,  sometimes  from  the  mouth 
of  famous  rabbis.  With  few  books  they  had  the 
heritage  of  a  splendid  spiritual  literature. 

The  Apostle  Paul  was  the  product  of  such  a  Phar- 
isee household.  How  many  young  men  in  a  modern 
church  offer  better  human  material  than  his?  He 
had  patriotic  and  religious  ideals  for  which  he  was 
ready  to  die;  he  was  faithful  and  loyal,  incorrupt- 
ible, brave.  What  manly  or  soldierly  quality  did 
he  lack,  as  you  find  him  traveling  down  to  Damascus 
to  arrest  a  group  of  dangerous  innovators,  and  schis- 
matics, disturbers  of  the  peace  of  his  people? 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Nicodemus,  Jesus'  timid  ad- 
mirer, and  the  rich  young  man  whom  he  loved  were 
men  of  the  Pharisee  type.  Was  not  Jesus  himself 
brought  up  in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth,  and  most 
likely  In  a  virtuous  Pharisee  home?  Old  men  and 
women  can  to-day  recall  Puritan  homes,  like  the 
homes  of  Jesus'  time  In  their  seriousness,  their  rev- 
erential manner,  their  scrupulous  conscience,  their 
integrity  of  character,  and  their  cleanness  of  life. 
How  many  Christians  give  as  much  for  benevolence 
as  the  regular  tithing  system  of  the  Pharisees  re- 
quired? As  for  keeping  the  Sabbath,  this  is  pecu- 
liarly a  Pharisee,  not  a  Christian,  institution. 

What  fault  shall  we  bring  against  these  obedient, 
excellent  Pharisees,  ancient  or  modern?     Why  have 


76  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

they  come  to  be  spoken  against?  Why  do  good 
Pharisees  feel  affronted  and  indignant  to  be  called 
by  that  name?  Why  was  Jesus  more  severe  in  his 
castigation  of  these  highly  respectable  people  than 
of  any  others?  Did  he  judge  them  unfairly? 
Would  he  be  equally  severe  towards  modern  Phari- 
sees? 

The  faults  which  Jesus  found  in  the  Pharisees, 
the  best  church-members  of  their  time,  are  exactly 
the  faults  which  we  see  in  the  current  or  popular 
religion  of  Christendom.  They  are  the  faults  of  a 
spiritual  movement  once  vital  and  necessary,  which 
has  ceased  to  thrive.  The  plant  is  running  out.  A 
people  who  once  saw  light  and  truth  at  first  hand, 
no  longer  see  for  themselves;  they  merely  repeat 
what  others  have  seen.  Good  leadership  has  run 
out,  or  else  become  inadequate  to  new  issues.  The 
leaders  look  backward,  not  toward  the  sunlight; 
their  attitude  is  timid,  their  temper  distrustful.  As 
Jesus  said,  they  not  only  fail  to  go  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  themselves,  but  they  stand  in  the  way  of 
those  who  would  enter  in ! 

We  measure  the  quality  of  a  people  or  a  genera- 
tion by  the  quality  of  its  leadership.  A  people  can 
hardly  get  on  faster  than  their  leaders,  or  without 
their  help.  But  a  people  now  and  then  catch  up 
with  their  leaders,  who  do  not  dare  or  wish  to  trust 
them  or  to  go  forward;  the  people  have  to  find  new 
and  better  leaders,  who  do  not  immediately  appear. 
Then  the  word  comes  true :  Woe  to  thee,  O  land, 
whose  king  is  a  child !     Jesus  found  such  a  people  as 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  77 

this.  We  see  something  of  the  same  condition  to- 
day. An  old  order  has  to  fall  back;  a  new  order 
arises. 

Let  us  be  quite  fair  to  the  Pharisees.  Excellent 
human  material  remains  among  them;  the  roots  are 
alive.  In  many  cases  their  faults  are  "  the  faults  of 
their  virtues."  The  admirable  static  virtues,  obed- 
ience, purity,  industry,  alms-giving,  loyalty,  are  still 
there.  But  the  needs  of  the  world  are  always  out- 
growing Its  "  static  "  virtues.  It  cries  out  for  dyna- 
mic goodness,  for  energy,  vision,  enthusiasm,  whole- 
hearted courage,  growing  sympathy,  the  sense  of  In- 
finite values  in  life. 

A  popular  or  respectable  church  gathers  into  its 
membership  many  people  who  do  not  belong  there, 
or  who  have  merely  happened  to  be  born  Into  it. 
It  presently  appears,  as  Jesus  found  in  the  syna- 
gogues, that  those  inside  are  much  the  same  as  those 
outside.  They  do  not  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness more  than  other  men.  In  short,  that  hap- 
pens to  a  whole  body,  once  active  and  useful,  which 
happens  to  the  athlete  who  ceases  to  exercise.  Thus 
forever  the  law  of  the  world  Is  to  thrive  and  climb 
and  grow,  or  else  to  fall  back  and  begin  to  die. 

The  master  fault  of  the  Pharisee  Is  his  pride:  he 
Is  proud  of  his  pride ;  he  thinks  pride  a  virtue  !  Per- 
haps It  Is  the  fault  of  a  virtue.  It  Is  the  vice  of  the 
Intelligence.  It  has  been  said  that  "  the  Intellect  Is 
always  arrogant."  Pride  is  to  the  mind  what  tuber- 
culosis is  to  the  organs  of  breathing.  It  Is  harder 
than  the  typhoid  poison  to  destroy;  it   spoils  and 


78  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

degrades  the  brightest  intellects.  But  the  worst  of 
it  is  that  it  isolates  and  separates  a  man  from  his 
kind,  and  cuts  off  the  flow  of  the  sympathies.  When 
pride  rules  the  will  it  becomes  impossible  to  forgive. 
What  wholesome  relation  to  other  men  is  possible 
when  you  place  yourself  above  them? 

Where,  if  ever,  in  the  great  social  epochs  of  his- 
tory, in  the  face  of  new  moral  issues,  has  the  judg- 
ment of  the  educated  class,  the  chief  priests  and  the 
Pharisees  of  the  time,  been  on  the  right  side?  I 
know  of  no  case.  The  story  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  in  the  United  States  is  a  signal  instance 
of  this.  It  was  Jesus'  tragedy  that  the  respectable 
Pharisees  were  his  worst  enemies.  Their  treatment 
of  him  was  typical  of  the  attitude  of  their  class  to 
the  more  progressive  lovers  of  men  at  all  times. 
They  knew  the  law;  they  could  recite  the  magnifi- 
cent compendium  about  "  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,"  but  they  did  not  perceive  that  a  new  dispensa- 
tion was  at  hand,  that  men  could  never  again  be  con- 
tent with  a  religious  leadership  which  recited  the 
words  without  doing  the  deeds.  Jesus'  straight-for- 
wardness undermined  the  delusion  of  their  supposed 
superiority  and  hurt  their  pride,  and  presently  they 
and  the  Sadducees  worked  the  usual  and  fatal  com- 
bination of  Church  and  State  to  destroy  him. 

Pharisaism  grows  out  of  a  sort  of  sensitive  self- 
consciousness.  You  wonder  at  times  with  the  Hindu 
philosophers  whether  self-consciousness  is  not  a 
curse?     What  beautiful  things,  like  flowers  and  but- 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  79 

terflies  and  the  smiles  of  a  child,  nature  produces 
without  any  self-consciousness !  Are  not  man's  own 
best  works  and  noblest  actions  free  from  it?  Could 
not  Nature  produce  man  without  giving  him  this 
strange  double-faced  gift?  Doubtless  not.  It  is 
one  with  the  conscience  that  knows  good  and  evil. 
Its  sensitiveness  Is  that  by  which  man  recognizes 
values  and  therefore  sees  ideals.  It  Is  the  price  man 
pays  before  he  may  attain  his  freedom,  and  enter 
into  the  purpose  of  God.  He  must  be  an  apprentice 
to  Nature,  climbing  through  a  region  of  half-lights, 
between  ignorance  and  knowledge.  The  word 
Pharisee  marks  this  period  of  apprenticeship  in  the 
course  of  a  life. 

Like  all  good  gifts,  self-consciousness  brings  pleas- 
ure and  pain,  privilege  and  perils.  While  on  the 
way  to  create  a  person,  it  magnifies  the  Ego.  It 
swells  his  conceit  of  his  Intellect,  his  knowledge,  his 
skill,  his  virtue.  He  sets  himself,  his  family,  his 
caste,  his  nation  at  the  center  of  the  world.  If  he 
dare  not  say,  "  I  am  the  Master  of  my  fate,"  he 
easily  believes  it.  But  when  things  go  wrong,  he 
is  apt  to  cry,  "  Behold:  there  is  no  sorrow  like  my 
sorrow!  " 

Self-consciousness,  like  pride,  cuts  off  sympathy  or 
the  circulation  of  the  social  life.  The  self-centered 
soul  does  not  like  to  acknowledge  the  fact  of  its 
dependence.  Where  egotism  grows,  where  conceit, 
pride,  arrogance,  are,  there  sympathy  fails.  Let 
any  one  watch  his  egotistic  moods  and  see  what  hap- 
pens.    The    imagination,    the    judgment,    the    con- 


8o  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

science,  and  the  will  are  dulled.  The  man  begins  to 
be  weak  where  he  thought  himself  strong.  These 
are  the  times  of  our  spiritual  danger.  They  belong 
to  the  Pharisee  period.  They  ought  to  give  us  pain 
and  shame.  We  might  well  pray:  From  apprentice- 
ship with  the  Pharisees,  good  Lord,  deliver  us ! 

What  hurt  Jesus'  feelings  more  than  anything  else, 
as  he  rubbed  against  the  Pharisee  class,  was  their 
treatment  of  others.  They  despised  others;  they 
were  spiritual  aristocrats.  They  had  room  In  their 
world  for  people  to  whom  to  give  alms,  but  they  did 
not  like  common  people,  the  proletariat  of  their 
time.  The  story  of  the  two  men  who  went  up  into 
the  temple  to  pray  is  typical.  Here  is  what  spiritual 
contempt  does.  Contempt  for  any  fellow  man  Is 
Inhuman;  it  blights  the  soul  which  admits  It.  Who 
deems  himself  so  far  superior  to  any  other  man  as 
to  refuse  to  speak  to  him? 

The  Pharisees  knew  all  about  fasting  and  saying 
prayers;  they  could  have  said  any  day,  "  Have  mercy 
upon  us,  miserable  sinners,"  If  these  words  had  been 
in  their  prayer  book.  But  they  did  not  know  what 
humility  Is,  much  less  humiliation :  they  never 
thought  to  ask  what  particular  sins  they  were  con- 
fessing; for  this  would  have  meant  healthy  shame 
and  the  will  to  be  better.  It  never  occurred  to  the 
pious  Pharisee  that  his  thought,  "  Thank  God  that 
I  am  not  as  other  men  —  like  this  wretched  Publi- 
can," was  the  symptom  of  spiritual  ancemia.  In 
what  harsh  words  to  little  children,  In  what  cruel 
abuse  of  power  and  privilege.  In  what  fearful  perse- 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  8 1 

cutlon  of  humble  people,  in  what  wars  against  here- 
tics and  infidels,  in  what  preposterous  quarrels 
among  the  good  and  respectable  themselves,  this  un- 
sympathetic Pharisee  pride  and  contempt  have  re- 
sulted. 

Pharisaism  takes  its  victims  unawares.  A  keen- 
minded  minister  in  one  of  the  oldest  city  churches 
in  New  England  described  his  church  people  as 
"  wanting  sympathy  " —  the  very  quality  which  they 
probably  supposed  they  possessed  above  others  !  In 
his  subtle  inability  to  see  himself  as  others  see  him, 
the  Pharisee  finds  a  mission  of  meddlesomeness.  If 
he  is  an  Anglo-Saxon,  he  can  scarcely  keep  his  hand 
off  other  people's  affairs.  He  desires  to  overthrow 
their  idols  and  level  their  altars  and  make  them 
"  altogether  as  himself."  Grant  that  the  material 
of  a  virtue  is  here  at  work.  It  may  be  genuine  zeal 
to  make  converts  to  a  better  faith,  to  clean  up  a 
wicked  world,  and  garner  a  fresh  harvest  of  right- 
eousness. How  much  real  sympathy  underlies  this 
missionary  zeal?  How  much  respect?  Suppose 
contempt,  bigotry,  especially  the  will  to  compel  and 
control  others,  and  punish  their  wickedness,  enter 
into  this  delicate  missionary  enterprise !  Paul  on 
his  march  to  Damascus  illustrates  my  meaning.  The 
Pharisee  never  sees  that  the  reservoirs  of  life  are 
shut  off  as  soon  as  we  try  to  force  our  morals,  our 
Christianity,  our  democracy  upon  the  unwilling  or 
unready. 

Perhaps  there  is  the  germ  of  a  Pharisee  In  every- 
one.    A  crowd  will  go  with  you  to  compel  men  to 


82  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

behave.  Men  of  impure  life  will  help  to  punish 
other  men  for  their  sins.  A  nation  that  upholds  war 
will  denounce  its  neighbor's  atrocities.  Is  it  not 
Pharisaism  which  sends  missions  to  the  heathen  with- 
out respecting  them,  and  at  the  same  time  assumes 
at  home  to  judge,  condemn,  jail,  and  kill  our  own 
heathen  without  any  sympathy?  Contrast  with  this 
the  story  of  Jesus  to  whom  was  brought  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery! 

The  tale  of  "  The  Prodigal  Son,"  better  called 
''  The  Two  Brothers,"  illuminates  the  Pharisee  char- 
acter. The  point  of  the  parable  lies  in  the  conduct 
of  the  elder  son.  He  is  a  Pharisee;  he  has  always 
obeyed;  every  one  has  praised  him.  Who  would  not 
choose  to  live  on  the  same  street  or  do  business  with 
him?  Does  not  Jesus  indeed  let  off  the  worthless 
prodigal  rather  too  easily?  What?  No  punish- 
ment? No  probation?  How  do  you  know  that  he 
has  repented?  To  be  received  as  if  he  had  merely 
returned  from  a  journey!  Where  do  the  long  years 
of  righteous  life  come  in  alongside  of  this  free  and 
easy  forgiveness?  So  the  Pharisee  in  us  asks.  The 
Pharisee,  Jewish  or  Christian,  does  not  know  what 
forgiveness  is.  And  yet  the  word  forgive  is  the  un- 
ceasing refrain  of  the  New  Testament.  Jesus'  grav- 
est count  against  the  Pharisees  is  that  they  have  no 
gospel  of  "  the  forgiveness  of  sins."  The  young 
Pharisee  in  the  story  has  admirable  traits.  But 
Jesus  discovers  in  him  the  same  essential  selfishness 
which  drove  the  younger  brother  into  the  fields  to 
feed  swine !     What  is  there  brotherly  In  him,  as  he 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  83 

stands  outside  his  father's  house  refusing  to  enter, 
complaining,  spoihng  his  father's  joy,  unforgiving, 
preferring  that  his  brother  should  have  stayed  and 
died  feeding  swine  I  This  is  what  Pharisaism  does 
with  its  haughty  self-righteousness.  There  is  no 
punishment  so  dreadful  as  to  be  cut  off  from  the 
flow  of  the  social  life;  it  is  to  be  cut  off  from  the  life 
of  God. 

I  doubt  not  there  are  gleams  of  autobiography  in 
the  Thirteenth  Chapter  of  I.  Corinthians.  Paul  was 
the  man  willing  to  ''  give  his  goods  to  feed  the 
poor  " ;  he  was  the  man  who  would  have  given  "  his 
body  to  be  burned."  The  fanatic  can  always  do  It. 
His  unrelenting  virtue,  his  enthusiasm  for  his  law 
and  his  race,  his  partisan  zeal  for  national  order 
and  unity  made  him  perhaps  the  most  dangerous 
man  in  Jerusalem.  The  wicked  men,  the  loose 
livers  and  vicious,  have  not  been  implacably  merci- 
less, have  not  maintained  Inquisitions,  or  justified 
inhumane  modes  of  punishment,  or  pushed  wars  to 
''  the  bitter  end."  But  the  unforgiving  and  obstin- 
ate virtuous  have  stood  behind  the  most  cruel  acts 
of  history.  Who  to-day  block  social  reforms? 
Who  are  most  stubborn  against  them?  The  Phari- 
sees. Who  are  so  afraid  of  new  doctrines,  new 
science,  new  political  ideas?     The  Pharisees. 

Paul  might  have  become  an  ascetic;  he  might  have 
thrown  himself  away  In  a  zealot  rebellion;  he  might 
have  settled  down  into  the  narrow  habits  of  a  respec- 
table rabbi  in  Tarsus,  and  we  should  have  never 


84  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

heard  of  him.  What  happened  to  Paul  to  make  him 
a  new  man?  If  you  cannot  change  human  nature 
you  can  set  the  graft  of  a  new  idea  in  it.  You  can 
keep  whatever  was  good  in  the  wild  olive  tree,  and 
have  a  new  species  of  fruit.  There  came  to  Paul 
the  inflow  of  love  or  good  will.  It  is  this  which 
he  describes  in  a  letter  to  the  Corinthians  in  the  most 
eloquent  passage  that  he  ever  wrote.  No  Pharisee 
had  this.  He  describes  it  again  when  he  says,  "  The 
fruits  of  the  spirit  are  love,  joy,  peace,"  and  every- 
thing else  which  completes  a  full  human  life  at  its 
best.  He  is  all  that  he  was  —  a  and  h  and  c,  plus  x 
and  n.  The  sources  and  supply  of  the  new  life  ex- 
ceed measurement.  No  one  who  has  caught  the 
vision  of  this  larger  life  and  begins  to  long  for  it,  can 
ever  again  be  a  Pharisee ! 

A  word,  finally,  as  regards  the  Pharisee  exclusive- 
ness.  It  was  the  price  which  he  had  to  pay  for  the 
kind  of  service  he  rendered.  The  beginnings  of 
goodness  in  law  and  order  almost  required  a  sort  of 
exclusiveness.  Imagine  a  little  group  of  puritan 
people  in  the  face  of  the  idolatry  of  Babylon  or 
Jerusalem !  What  could  they  do  to  secure  the  per- 
petuation of  their  faith?  How  could  they  let  their 
children  mix  freely  with  "  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  "  in  the  street,  the  market  place,  the  vile 
amusements?  What  could  the  early  Christians  do 
in  Rome  unless  they  made  themselves  for  the  time  a 
peculiar  people?  The  settlement  of  New  England 
took  place  because  puritan  families  could  not  live 
and  thrive  and  keep  their  strict  cult  in  the  tolerant 


THE  PHARISEE  WORLD  85 

cities  of  Holland.  In  a  world  emerging  from  pagan- 
ism, must  not  the  lovers  of  righteousness  stand  close 
together  for  mutual  support? 

Presently,  however,  the  social  laws  of  the  world 
undermine  every  policy  of  particularism  or  special 
protection  of  infant  enterprises,  however  necessary 
it  may  at  first  appear.  Do  you  wish  to  enjoy  emi- 
nence of  any  sort?  The  law  is  then,  that  you  must 
level  up  towards  it  all  around  you  and  share  it,  and 
make  it  accessible ;  else  the  rains  and  tides  will  wash 
it  away. 

This  is  to  say  that  the  world  does  not  now  need 
Its  old  Pharisee  barriers  and  restraints,  or  the  at- 
tempted Pharisee  patent  right  of  spiritual  privilege. 
The  peoples  of  the  world  are  moving  together ;  they 
want  for  all  the  advantages  of  the  few  —  the  best 
spiritual  education  for  all.  We  cannot  run  away 
from  people  and  colonize  by  ourselves.  If,  then, 
we  have  privilege  we  must  labor  the  harder  to  share 
It.  Meantime  new  facilities  of  intercourse  bring  all 
races  with  their  customs  and  religions  to  our  doors. 
It  is  a  sort  of  universal  '^  community  of  goods." 
We  can  keep  our  religion  only  by  putting  it  to  use. 
The  peril  of  losing  it  does  not  come  to-day  from 
trusting-and  using  it,  but  rather  from  the  failure  to 
believe  In  it.  It  will  move  us  to  establish  societies 
and  brotherhoods  of  like-minded  people  In  every 
land;  we  propose  to  fit  men  to  be  citizens  of  the 
world. 


IV 

The  superman,  or  man  at  his  best 

We  have  heard  a  good  deal,  especially  by  the  way 
of  Germany,  of  a  new  possibility  in  evolution  —  the 
Superman.  This  superman  will  be  as  much  above 
ordinary  mortals  as  they  overtop  lower  orders  of 
creatures.  The  fact  is,  every  one  is  dissatisfied  with 
such  men  as  we  mostly  have  now.  What  mean- 
nesses, what  stupidities,  what  cowardice,  what  cru- 
elty, what  lack  of  decision,  manly  power,  and  will! 
What  a  frightful  mess  the  ablest,  picked  men  make 
of  all  human  affairs,  of  business,  industry,  govern- 
ment! How  the  fairly  reputed  among  them  disap- 
point us  and  go  wrong!  How  often  priests  and 
ministers  give  religion  the  most  grievous  interpreta- 
tion and  manage  to  make  it  odious !  How  wild 
whole  nations  will  go  in  the  fever  of  war  time ! 
All  the  early  beasts,  tooth  and  claw,  are  behind  the 
well-dressed  people  in  a  drawing-room,  a  Congress, 
or  church.  The  Superman  is  due  to  arrive !  We 
need  him.  Is  there  any  sign,  however,  of  his  com- 
ing? Is  he  likely,  if  he  comes,  to  be  the  kind  of 
superior  man  that  we  want?  We  confess  to  some 
fear  of  him.  He  will  have  plenty  of  power,  of 
intelligence,  of  will.  Is  he  going  to  be  as  good  as 
men  even  now  are,  at  their  best?     Will  he  be  socially 

86 


THE  SUPERMAN  87 

minded  and  lovable?     Suppose  he  turns  out  to  be 
hard,  proud,  and  selfish? 

Why  should  we  look  so  hopelessly  so  far  afield  to 
expect  a  superman?  Who  knows  that  we  cannot  do 
better  with  this  common  human  nature  which  lies 
In  us  and  all  about  us?  Mean  as  nearly  all  men 
can  be  at  their  lowest,  what  does  any  one  want  better 
than  man  can  be  at  his  best?  I  want  to  show  by 
demonstration  of  facts  that  we  have  In  this  human 
nature  the  making  of  better  supermen  than  any  biol- 
ogist has  dreamed  of.  In  fact,  this  kind  of  supe- 
rior man  comes  In  the  natural  line  of  evolution. 
There  Is,  first,  the  natural  or  physical  man;  then 
normally,  as  you  would  expect  In  consonance  with 
the  facts  of  the  spiritual  realm,  the  essentially  spirit- 
ual man ;  that  is,  the  man  of  the  good  spirit.  This  is 
the  order  of  men  for  whom  the  whole  weary  crea- 
tion is  looking.  In  true  evolutionary  succession,  as 
''  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God."  Man  does 
not  greatly  want  any  further  development  in  stature, 
in  muscle,  or  even  In  brain  power.  He  does  not 
half  use  what  brains  he  has.  But  he  wants  immense 
development  in  the  life  of  the  spirit.  I  mean  the 
spirit,  not  of  a  superman,  but  of  a  plain  man. 

There  Is  a  classic  piece  of  noble  literature  that 
men  never  tire  of  citing.  More  than  two  thousand 
years  old,  it  shines  no  less  brilliantly  through  its 
antiquity:  ''What  does  the  Lord  require  of  thee 
but  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God?  "     Readers  and  even  students  mostly 


88  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

skim  over  it  and  hardly  begin  to  understand  it. 
They  are  apt  to  be  more  interested  in  searching  out 
the  evidences  for  or  against  baptism  by  immersion, 
or  the  supposed  prophecies  about  "  the  Scarlet 
Woman,"  or  in  forcing  Jesus'  royal  genealogy  in 
Luke  into  agreement  with  the  list  of  names  in  Mat- 
thew !  And  so  the  greater  matters  of  justice,  mercy, 
and  truth  are  passed  by.  We  need  not  be  sure  that 
the  lonely,  unknown  prophet  of  Israel  could  fully 
understand  how  great  a  saying  he  uttered.  The 
time  had  not  come  to  fill  the  world  with  its  publish- 
ment. I  wish  to  show  how  these  words  point  the 
way  of  spiritual  evolution.  Here  is  the  answer  to 
the  question:  What  does  the  Lord  of  Life  want  to 
make  of  a  man  —  that  is,  what  satisfies  God?  If 
any  one  is  still  shy  of  using  the  word  God,  put  the 
same  idea  in  any  other  way.  What  do  we  want 
more  than  anything  else  of  one  another  and  of 
our  children?  What  do  we  want  when  we  see  our 
own  needs?  Or,  again,  what  kind  of  a  superman 
would  best  fit  into  the  companionship  of  intelligent 
beings  anywhere  in  the  universe? 

Our  prescription,  or  law,  for  making  a  man  is 
simple  enough  for  a  child.  It  has  only  three  points 
—  first,  to  do  justice;  secondly,  to  love  mercy; 
thirdly,  to  walk  humbly  with  God.  Let  us  translate 
this  last,  to  he  modest.  Here  is  a  genuine  Trinity: 
justice,  friendliness,  modesty  are  one!  Each  is  in 
the  other  and  each  holds  its  own  place. 

See  now,  a  step  at  a  time,  what  this  threefold  idea, 
once  entering  any  man's  soul,  does  to  him.     Perhaps 


THE  SUPERMAN  89 

you  think  it  too  easy.  Consider  justice !  It  seems 
immediately  to  lie  on  the  surface  of  our  minds.  Jus- 
tice!  men  say;  we  desire  it  more  than  anything. 
Children  think  so;  struggling  workmen  will  starve 
for  it;  the  proud  masters  of  men  will  spend  their 
"  last  dollar  "  rather  than  suffer  injustice.  Great 
nations  will  sacrifice  their  boys'  lives  by  the  millions 
to  compel  justice  upon  the  world.  But  this  is  not 
what  the  great  word  says.  In  fact,  it  runs  the  oppo- 
site way.  These  people  all  want  to  get  justice,  to 
force  others  to  do  justice,  in  fact  to  compel  their  own 
will,  whether  just  or  not,  upon  others  who  struggle 
also  for  their  partisan,  or  national,  idea  of  justice. 

The  word  is  to  do  justice;  this  plain  emphasis  is 
commonly  overlooked.  It  is  the  same  idea  that 
you  find  In  the  beatitude:  "  Blessed  [that  Is,  happy] 
are  they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness." 
No  one  pretends  that  the  people  who  hunger  and 
thirst  to  get  righteousness  out  of  other  men  are 
happy;  they  are  anxious,  nervous,  fearful,  lest  they 
fail  to  get  justice.  But  Jesus  and  others  had  ob- 
served that  those  who  give  their  attention  to  do 
justice  are  happy.  It  is  not  said  they  will  be  happy 
In  some  other  life,  or  "  in  heaven."  They  carry 
heaven  In  their  hearts  now.  Let  any  man  set  his 
mind  to  do  justice,  and  he  never  lies  awake  nights 
because  others  fail  to  do  justice  to  him. 

The  startling  paradox  is,  that  here  Is  the  way  to 
success  In  every  kind  of  enterprise.  Does  the  pupil 
want  good  marks  at  school?  He  will  not  get  them 
by  asking  for  them;  this  is  not  his  affair:  he  will  get 


90  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

them  by  setting  his  mind  on  his  lessons,  in  which 
case  it  Is  not  Important  to  have  marks  at  all.  Does 
the  lad  want  an  Increase  of  wages?  Does  he  com- 
plain that  he  Is  not  treated  fairly?  Let  him  put  his 
will  into  his  work  and  make  himself  useful.  There 
are  not  enough  workmen  of  this  sort  In  any  Indus- 
try; no  employer  can  afford  to  refuse  to  do  such 
workmen  justice. 

Does  the  wife  desire  praise,  appreciation,  and 
love?  What  domestic  tragedies  arise  when  a 
woman  seeks  to  get  or  claim  her  dues!  The  atti- 
tude of  the  beggar  or  claimant  for  love  shuts  the 
heart.  Let  her  do  her  best  as  wife  and  mother, 
and  never  mind  how  much  or  little  she  is  loved. 
Love  will  now  surround  her. 

All  nations  have  gone  to  war  for  their  rights. 
No  nation  has  ever  tried  the  one  experiment,  to  do 
justice  to  others.  A  few  years  ago  the  United 
States  merely  declined  to  take  money  from  China 
which  did  not  belong  to  her.  The  act  astonished 
the  world  and  made  millions  of  Chinese  our  friends. 
If  the  United  States  had  always  taken  pains  to  do 
justice  In  Europe,  to  South  American  Republics,  to 
the  peoples  In  the  Orient,  to  her  Indian  tribes,  to  her 
own  poor  and  her  Immigrants,  she  would  never  have 
had  to  fear  any  belligerent  nation.  So  Impregnable 
an  armament  is  the  will  to  do  justice ! 

The  way  to  get  justice  is  to  do  justice,  whether 
the  other  party  does  It  or  not.  We  do  not  affirm 
this  for  some  other  world  or  for  future  ages,  but  in 
this  imperfect  world  now.     Every  one  approves  of 


THE  SUPERMAN  9 1 

those  who  do  justice,  admires  them,  likes  to  do  busi- 
ness with  them,  to  live  with  them  as  neighbors. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood;  I  advise  no  one  to 
be  ignorant  of  his  rights,  to  throw  his  rights  away, 
to  make  believe  that  it  is  pleasant  to  bear  with  in- 
justice. I  am  not  saying  that  it  never  becomes  a 
social  or  national  duty  to  seek  justice.  The  fact  is 
that  no  one  ever  can  suffer  alone.  To  suffer  a 
wrong  and  never  frankly  to  say  that  you  suffer  may 
do  a  wrong  to  others.  The  offending  party  may  not 
be  aware  of  what  he  is  doing.  He  may  need  to 
understand  your  point  of  view.  A  government, 
however  Intent  on  doing  justice,  must  respect  other 
people  enough  to  believe  that  they  too  wish  to  do 
justice,  and  therefore  desire  to  know  wherein  their 
conduct  seems  unfair. 

The  broad  rule,  however,  holds  good.  The  way 
to  get  justice  is,  first,  to  do  It.  Here  Is  the  empha- 
sis, not  where  men  and  nations  have  hitherto  placed 
it.  If  you  want  to  get  justice  more  than  to  do  it, 
you  do  not  know  what  justice  Is,  least  of  all,  what 
it  Is  to  ''  hunger  and  thirst "  for  It.  Do  you  love 
to  give  good  measure?  If  not,  some  day  you  will 
be  caught  giving  false  weight.  Moreover,  our  atti- 
tude, when  we  seek  our  rights,  will  make  all  the  dif- 
ference In  our  success.  Do  we  threaten  and  com- 
plain, as  if  we  expected  the  other  to  refuse  us?  We 
can  make  It  Impossible  for  the  other  to  meet  us  half 
way;  whereas,  each  man  at  his  best,  brings  the  other 
man  to  his  best.  How  soon  wars  would  cease  if  one 
nation  was  great  enough  to  do  justly  to  all  others  I 


92  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Our  second  point  in  describing  the  life  of  a  man 
*'  at  his  best  "  is  that  he  loves  mercy.  Plenty  of 
people  are  kind  when  they  feel  like  it.  We  gen- 
erally love  to  do  kind  things  —  when  we  think  of  it. 
The  priest  and  the  Levite  on  the  Jericho  road  would 
have  given  alms  to  a  beggar.  If  there  had  been  a 
Red  Cross  Society,  all  the  Pharisees  in  Jerusalem 
would  have  put  down  a  subscription.  What  was  the 
difference  between  these  men  and  the  unknown 
Samaritan?  The  Samaritan  loved  to  be  kind;  he  set 
his  heart  on  helping  people;  where  the  need  was,  he 
saw  a  brother.  The  greater  the  need,  the  more  he 
loved  to  meet  it.  There  are  those  who  like  cattle, 
horses,  dogs,  birds.  This  man  loves  people.  He 
was  ready  to  love  the  particular  person  who  needed 
him  most.  We  have  read  about  the  St.  Bernard 
dogs  at  an  Alpine  convent;  their  business  is  to  watch 
out  for  lost  travelers.  Why  should  there  not  be 
men  as  good  as  these  dogs? 

The  St.  Bernard  dog  is  a  kind  of  professional 
philanthropist.  Rescue  work  in  the  snow  is  his  only 
business.  The  beauty  of  Jesus'  friend,  however,  is 
that  he  is  no  professional  at  all.  Jesus  only  says 
"  a  Samaritan,"  as  one  might  say  an  American,  a 
Chinese,  or  a  German.  He  is  not  on  his  way  to  visit 
a  hospital  in  Jericho.  He  might  be  a  farmer  or 
a  small  trader,  unafraid  of  the  robbers,  forehanded, 
well  supplied  with  credit  at  the  inn.  What  he  did 
was  an  incident.  So  much  the  better!  It  suggests 
a  thousand  ordinary  ways  in  which  a  man  makes 


THE  SUPERMAN  93 

light  shine,  as  a  lamp  does,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Observe  how  thorough  he  is  in  his  work  at  the  inn, 
as  becomes  a  man  of  sound  habits.  He  does  not 
leave  the  innkeeper  in  charge  of  a  penniless  boarder. 
He  pays  in  advance  on  the  man's  lodging  and  gives 
him  credit  if  he  needs  to  stay  longer.  And  then  he 
disappears  altogether.  You  wonder  if  he  ever  told 
his  wife  of  the  incident?  As  Marcus  Aurelius  says: 
"  As  a  horse  when  he  has  run,  a  dog  when  he  has 
tracked  the  game,  a  bee  when  it  has  made  the  honey, 
so  a  man  when  he  has  done  a  good  act,  does  not 
wait  to  be  thanked,  but  goes  on  to  do  another  good 
act,  as  the  vine  produces  grapes  in  its  season." 

Such  is  a  normal,  friendly  man  who  "  loves 
mercy."  Who  asks  for  supermen,  when  the  common 
man  of  a  mongrel  race  does  the  things  for  which  the 
world  needs  supermen?  We  conceive  of  the  super- 
man as  able  to  fit  his  place  wherever  he  is  set,  but 
any  common  man,  at  his  best,  who  loves  mercy,  fits 
his  place  anywhere  in  any  country  or  world.  Who 
shall  say  that  the  story  was  not  of  a  man  whom 
Jesus  had  seen? 

There  are  Christians,  captivated  by  the  methods 
of  fighting  men,  who  suggest  that  the  man  in  the 
story  might  have  been  better  employed  in  organizing 
a  vigilance  committee  to  "  clean  up  "  the  bandits. 
This  is  where  organized  government,  with  Roman 
legions  behind  it,  had  failed.  In  fact,  the  cruel  gov- 
ernmental violence  had  most  likely  created  the  ban- 
dits.    We  say.  Put  men  who  love  justice  into  the 


94  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

government:  put  them  In  charge  of  every  unfortu- 
nate class.  Ugly  criminals,  wild  Indians,  savage 
Moros  have  thus  been  tamed  Into  men. 

The  third  point  In  the  way  of  making  a  man  at 
his  best  Is  modesty.  We  give  the  least  possible 
value  to  the  pious  conventional  postures  whereby 
men  "  humble  themselves  before  God."  Humble 
words  may  be  tangled  up  with  the  worst  forms  of 
spiritual  pride,  with  pride  of  birth  and  station  and 
race.  Give  us  simple  unadorned  modesty,  the  nor- 
mal outlook  on  life  of  all  simple-hearted  people. 
This  Is  what  Is  meant  by  that  ancient  Hebrew  re- 
frain, "  Blessed  are  the  meek."  Since  the  word 
meek  has  been  spoiled,  let  us  say  the  modest.  They 
are  the  gentle  or  kindly;  they  put  on  no  airs;  they 
never  take  themselves  too  seriously;  they  are  apt  to 
have  a  saving  sense  of  humor,  rather  needful  in  the 
human  equipment. 

It  is  marvelous  how  in  "  The  Beatitudes  "  the 
usual  values  of  the  world  are  reversed.  Men  have 
thought:  Blessed  are  the  proud  —  the  warriors,  the 
kings  and  lords,  the  millionaires.  Are  they  the 
happy  ones?  They  often  live  in  fear;  they  are 
anxious  about  their  money  and  position.  They  do 
not  know  how  to  get  on  with  other  people ;  they  ex- 
pect to  make  their  way  by  buying  or  commandeering 
other  men's  services  —  an  Inhuman  way  to  get 
service.  The  wise  long  ago  observed  that  the 
proud,  with  all  sorts  of  things  to  enjoy,  were  for- 
ever coming  to  grief;  that  pride  goes  to  a  fall.     And 


THE  SUPERMAN  95 

the  wise  remarked,  as  we  may  remark  if  we  watch. 
Happy  and  thrice  happy  are  the  modest! 

Here  Is  the  sense  in  our  story  of  Antaeus.  Up 
in  the  air,  his  strength  went  out  of  him.  But  when 
he  fell  back  to  the  earth,  he  was  strong.  The  fall 
had  done  him  no  harm;  his  own  earth  did  him 
good. 

Modesty  is  no  mere  accident;  it  is  no  pale  nega- 
tion. It  takes  the  intelligence,  not  of  a  Teutonic 
superman,  but  of  a  man  of  common  sense.  It  is 
based  in  the  truth  of  things,  as  for  example,  that  we 
men  at  the  best  are  only  men,  limited  in  power,  in 
wit,  in  wisdom,  in  experience  —  men  too  in  the  face 
of  an  infinite  world  to  be  learned  and  won;  to  which 
we  have  to  adjust  ourselves  or  else  to  be  wretched 
—  most  of  us  small  men  also  in  comparison  with  the 
great  minds  and  geniuses  of  our  race.  Moreover, 
everything  is  lent  or  given  us  by  the  unseen  creative, 
guiding  Power.  Let  a  man  be  strong  beyond  the 
average;  let  a  woman  be  beautiful;  suppose  a  rare 
genius  in  art  or  music  or  poetry.  How  did  this  ex- 
cellence come?  We  speak  accurately  in  saying  that 
such  persons  are  "  gifted."  No  one  created  his 
rare  power  or  faculty.  Some  one  insists:  "I 
worked  hard  to  attain  it;  I  spent  years  in  training." 
But  where  did  the  will  and  the  vision  come  from  that 
other  men  lacked?  What  is  the  will  Itself,  but  the 
mightiest  of  "the  gifts  of  the  gods"?  It  is  the 
common  lot  of  man,  and  his  glory  also,  that  he  never 
attains  to  his  own  full  stature  and  power,  the  ideal 
and  design  in  the  thought  of  the  Master  of  Life. 


96  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

The  great  sons  of  God  have  learned  to  be  meek,  as 
the  little  and  truthful  ones  may  well  be. 

The  words  of  the  prayer,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  are 
the  supreme  mark  of  a  man's  intelligence.  How 
dreadful  that  they  should  become  a  parrot  perform- 
ance! It  takes  will  and  a  vision  of  truth  to  say 
them.  They  ask  no  favor;  they  express  intelligent, 
forceful,  modest  purpose.  What  proud  man  ever 
does,  or  can,  say:  "  God's  will  be  done  "  !  But  he 
says  instead:  "  My  will  be  done."  This  is  the  will 
to  power,  to  wealth,  to  victory,  to  overcome  rivals, 
to  have  and  to  hold.  In  the  end,  this  is  the  will 
to  disaster  for  himself,  for  his  children,  for  his 
nation.  But  "  God's  will  be  done,"  means  —  I  will 
whatever  is  best,  I  desire  nothing  else  so  much,  I 
trust  all  to  the  Eternal. 

This  was  the  greatness  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Various  and  contrary-minded  people,  despising  his 
common  mind,  tried  to  persuade  him  that  their  will 
ought  to  be  his  will.  His  intelligence  was  less  elab- 
orately furnished  than  theirs.  But  he  saw  what 
sophisticated  men  coulcj  not  understand,  that  the  clue 
to  all  tangled  human  affairs  is  to  seek,  as  if  one  were 
only  a  child,  to  find  the  mind  or  good  will  of  God, 
and  follow  it  as  a  man  would  follow  a  trail  through 
the  woods. 

We  now  see  the  meaning  of  Jesus'  notable  answer 
to  the  question :  Who  will  be  greatest  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven?  The  answer  goes  down  to  bed 
rock  and  reverses  all  ordinary  childish  opinion.  He 
who  is  the  greatest  servant  of  all  will  be  greatest. 


THE  SUPERMAN  97 

He  will  be  great  by  not  trying  to  be  great.  The 
farmer  will  be  great,  not  by  making  more  money 
than  other  farmers,  but  by  his  excellent  product, 
by  the  improvement  of  his  farm,  by  his  manly  in- 
tegrity. The  physician  will  be  great,  not  by  his  in- 
come, but  by  his  ministrations  to  his  patients,  by 
the  value  of  his  medical  discoveries,  by  his  public- 
spirited  services.  The  office-holder  will  be  great, 
not  by  his  skill  in  getting  votes,  but  by  his  respect  for 
all  kinds  and  conditions  of  men,  by  his  generous  and 
obliging  uprightness.  You  can  never  know  who  is 
the  greatest  of  all.  There  is  always  room  higher 
up  in  the  scale.  There  are  always  new  ways  to 
serve  men.  You  will  look  in  the  wrong  place  to 
discover  the  great.  It  may  be  that  the  humblest 
woman  proves  to  be  the  one  who  saves  the  city. 

Have  we  not  now  made  out  our  proposition?  It 
seems  impregnable.  Our  superman  is  simply  the 
common  man,  at  his  best,  not  imitating  some  other 
man,  or  forcing  himself  to  be  what  he  is  not;  his  own 
best  self  is  enough.  He  is  here  to  do  and  give 
justice;  this  will  make  justice  prevail.  This  gives  a 
man  integrity  and  independence.  He  is  here  to  do 
kindness,  and  this  gives  him  respect,  simplicity,  affec- 
tion. He  cannot  help  being  modest,  and  modesty 
goes  with  power,  increases  power,  sharpens  the 
mind,  and  gives  poise,  ease  and  dignity.  Whoever 
is  modest  goes  a  long  way  to  be  lovable.  But  no 
matter  for  that.  To  be  modest  is  to  seek  to  give 
love,  not  to  get  it.  All  this  calls  for  will  which  is 
life ;  not  self-will,  but  good  will.     To  say  "  Thy  will 


98  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

be  done  "  is  to  say:  Let  the  Good  Will  be  done.  It 
is  to  desire  the  best,  to  look  for  the  best,  to  do  the 
best. 

Try  finally,  any  one  of  the  strands  of  our  three- 
fold cable  of  life,  and  you  will  find  it  inextricably  in- 
volved with  the  others.  Try  to  do  justice,  search 
out  the  meaning  of  justice,  find  out  how  great  a  thing 
it  is  to  do  at  all  times  to  all  men,  and  you  become  no 
less  scrupulous,  but  more  merciful  every  day  in  your 
judgments  and  your  demands.  You  cease  now  ever 
to  wish  to  punish  any  one.  The  effort  to  do  justice 
repeatedly  teaches  modesty  also.  So  does  the  en- 
deavor to  show  mercy,  and  especially  so  as  to  leave 
permanent  good.  The  only  real  helpfulness  is  that 
which  sets  men  in  the  way  to  be,  if  possible,  better 
than  you  are.  You  must  give  them  respect;  you 
must  give  them  sympathy;  you  must  share  your 
vision  and  purpose;  you  must  do  your  business  with 
good  will.     Try  this  and  be  modest  accordingly. 


THE    SUMMUM    BONUM 

In  our  satisfactions  there  are  obviously  all  kinds 
of  degrees  and  qualities.  What  are  the  things  that, 
if  you  seek  righteousness  first,  "  shall  be  added  unto 
you"?  The  old  inquiry:  What  is  the  summiun 
bonum,  the  highest  good,  the  chief  end  of  man,  has 
its  difficulties  in  the  wonderful  variety  of  human 
desires.  The  healthy  zest  of  the  hungry  man  to 
eat  and  drink,  overrunning  its  mark,  becomes  a  mat- 
ter of  shame.  Does  a  man  read  his  Bible,  or  go  to 
church,  or  hear  a  learned  lecture,  with  such  a  hun- 
gry appetite  as  this?  Ought  he  not  to  fast  on  occa- 
sion, so  as  to  rebuke  this  eager  animal  desire? 
Probably  not.  He  will  curb  his  appetite  sufficiently, 
provided  only  he  will  forbid  it  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  enterprise  of  his  life.  Does  any  appetite 
render  him  less  effective  as  workman  or  father  or 
friend?  Does  it  take  off  the  fine  edge  of  his  skill, 
his  intelligence,  his  social  sympathy?  Here  lies  the 
secret  of  a  man's  self-mastery.  The  animal  In  him 
is  not  to  be  crucified  like  an  evil  demon.  Let  It  be 
put  to  the  service  of  the  guiding  mind,  of  the  sympa- 
thies, of  a  great  and  worthy  purpose.  His  zest  or 
keenness  of  sense  on  his  physical  side  Is  a  gift  of 

99 


lOO  A  RELIGION    FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

God,  the  normal  attendant  of  a  well  and  active 
body.  To  fast  and  go  without  Is  Indolence,  com- 
pared with  Intelligent  and  well  controlled  temper- 
ance. 

We  must  presently,  however,  draw  a  line,  real  if 
Invisible,  between  the  good  things  which  the  body 
wants,  and  a  class  of  satisfactions  which  are  wholly 
spiritual.  There  Is  no  comparison  between  them. 
No  man  needs  to  ask:  What  do  I  love  best,  my  din- 
ner or  my  child,  my  vacation  in  the  woods  or  my  re- 
ligion? The  word  love  does  not  apply  in  the  one 
case  as  it  does  in  the  other.  The  physical  desire 
presently  Is  satisfied,  and  then  palls;  or  wears  out 
altogether,  and  the  man  Is  unhurt.  The  other 
kind  grows  upward  with  a  sort  of  Infinite  reach. 
If  the  desires  and  satisfactions  of  friendship  and 
love,  his  ideals  and  aspirations,  could  pall  or  die,  the 
man  would  cease  to  be  human;  some  fatal  disease 
would  have  befallen  him. 

Note  here  again,  the  working  of  the  principle  that 
we  have  followed  before.  Life  consists  in  expres- 
sion and  grows  by  expression.  The  great  spiritual 
values  and  satisfactions  continually  demand  to  be  ex- 
pressed —  in  words,  in  deeds.  In  subtle  and  unseen 
forms  of  outflow.  Love  Is  not  normal  that  Is  not 
told.  Aspiration  Is  feeble  as  long  as  it  stays  in 
dreamland.  Let  it  out  Into  effort.  You  do  in- 
justice to  your  religion  if  you  hold  It  in  silence;  It 
wants  to  be  communicated.  Here  is  the  kernel  of 
truth  In. the  rule,  always  to  smile  upon  people! 

The  greatest  of  gifts  Is  the  fulfillment  of  life  — 


THE  SUMMUM   BONUM  loi 

that  the  cup  of  life,  or  better,  the  channels  of  life 
shall  be  full,  and  grow  deeper.  Let  the  bodily  life 
go  forth  in  every  healthful  mode  of  expression;  let 
the  intelligence  utter  itself  in  fitting  language,  in 
skill,  art,  music,  in  useful  acts;  let  the  great  human 
emotions  also  go  forth  warm  and  fresh  in  every 
mode  of  brotherly  affection,  in  the  ways  of  humane 
respect  and  brotherly  service;  let  admiration,  rever- 
ence, and  the  sense  of  an  infinite  companionship,  go 
abroad  in  their  own  characteristic  forms  of  expres- 
sion—  this  is  the  fulfillment  of  life.  There  seems 
to  be  no  limit  to  it.  What  can  any  superman  have 
or  do  more?  No  man  surely  has  yet  exhausted  the 
possibilities  of  life  as  they  stretch  out  into  every 
field  of  the  spiritual  universe. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  motion  of  life  after  the  figure 
of  a  flow  or  current.  To  live  best  is  to  flow  most 
freely.  In  a  sense  the  life  of  the  man  is  like  the 
life  of  a  tree.  Look  at  the  tree  in  the  spring:  it  is 
surcharged  with  the  generous  flow  of  its  sap;  every 
drop  of  it  is  running  up  and  outward  on  its  single 
business  —  to  fulfill  itself,  to  express,  not  the  life  of 
some  other  tree,  but  its  own,  the  peach  or  the  maple, 
or  whatever  kind  of  tree  it  may  be.  So  with  the 
life  of  each  child  of  the  spiritual  universe.  No  one 
has  to  imitate  the  enterprise  of  another,  not  even  of 
a  Christ;  he  has  only  to  bring  his  own  true  self  to 
fulfillment,  and  forever  to  grow  and  express  more  of 
it.  What  is  this  best  self  unless,  as  in  the  Christ 
story,  it  is  another  expression  of  the  heart  and  mmd 
of  God?     It  is  fullness  of  life. 


I02  A  RELIGION    FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

The  life  of  the  tree,  like  all  normal  life,  goes  out 
and  upward;  its  business  is  with  expression.  But 
how  shall  it  have  income  enough  to  grow?  Answer 
this  by  the  parable  of  the  breath.  Hold  your 
breath  if  you  can!  Let  your  breath  out  and  the  air 
rushes  in.  Timid,  suspicious,  distrustful  people  do 
not  know  this.  Use  the  muscle,  and  it  grows  big- 
ger; use  the  sense  and  it  grows  keen;  use  your  art, 
paint  pictures;  give  devotion  and  sympathy;  in  short, 
invest  your  capital,  and  you  never  need  worry  as  to 
where  income  will  come  from.  Innumerable  un- 
seen rootlets  under  the  soil  are  at  work  feeding  the 
plant  that  grows;  millions  of  tiny  cells  passing  life 
on  into  new  potencies,  are  being  unconsciously  multi- 
plied, as  they  pour  every  drop  possible  onwards  to 
help  the  tree  burst  into  blossom  and  go  on  to  ripen 
its  fruit.  "  Seek  and  ye  shall  find  "  means  a  per- 
petual promise.  Utter  your  questions,  search  the 
heart  of  nature,  turn  your  desires  into  streams  of 
social  activity,  and  you  shall  never  be  disappointed. 

What  subtle  element  is  it  in  the  life  of  a  plant, 
above  all  its  other  modes  of  expression,  that  keeps 
it  what  it  is  and  never  lets  it  be  anything  else?  You 
never  know  the  tree  till  you  have  tasted  its  fruit. 
The  fruit  is  its  seed,  mysteriously  bearing  it  on  with 
its  peculiar  aroma,  like  an  immortal  principle  to 
make  life  like  its  own  prevail  on  the  earth.  There  is 
that  also  in  man  which  characterizes  him  at  his  best; 
constitutes  him  human;  flowing  in  him  fulfills  his  life 
and  possesses  him  with  power,  drawn  from  the  in- 
finite sources.     It  is  his  good  will.     When  the  man 


THE  SUMMUM   BONUM  103 

expresses  good  will  the  best  self  Is  there  present. 
The  good  will  uses  every  faculty  In  us;  It  calls  the 
best  from  every  muscle  and  nerve;  It  uses  the  man's 
whole  Intelligence;  there  Is  no  normal  channel  of 
expression  of  thought  or  emotion  through  which  a 
good  win  does  not  seek  to  shine  forth  In  utterance. 
If  one  name  were  ever  enough  to  describe  a  real 
man,  it  would  be  the  Good  Will  Incarnate.  If  one 
word  might  describe  our  highest  possible  thought  of 
the  universe  life,  It  would  be  the  Infinite  Good  Will. 
Why  do  we  say  Good  Will,  and  not  rather  love? 
Because  good  will  Is  more  than  love  and  Includes 
love;  because  love  has  been  abused  by  cheap  sentl- 
mentallsm;  because  love  Is  a  special  word  to  express 
intimacy;  whereas,  good  will  Is  the  universal,  ever- 
present  and  urging  life,  the  condition  of  the  fulfill- 
ment of  life  at  Its  best.  More  than  anything  else  It 
makes  man  human.  The  genuine  man  always  ex- 
presses a  good  will.  His  good  will  Is  ready  to  move 
in  every  direction  as  light  flows;  It  never  changes  into 
111  will  or  selfish  indifference.  You  can  turn  on  your 
will  like  the  electric  power,  by  a  motion,  at  a  call 
of  need,  at  the  pressure  of  an  emergency.  Whereas, 
love,  a  feeling  or  sentiment,'  cannot  be  comman- 
deered. Can  you  love  "  to  order  "  ?  Can  you  love 
people  whom  you  have  not  seen?  Can  you  love 
people  merely  because  they  dwell  within  the  boun- 
daries of  the  United  States?  Can  you  love  people 
In  Africa?  Can  you  love  when  men  approach  you 
with  threats?  Even  the  doctor  and  nurse  must  have 
a    chance    for    acquaintance    before    their    affection 


I04  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

flows.  But  you  can  use  your  will  to  call  up  your 
pity  or  your  humane  regard  or  to  meet  a  peril. 
Your  will  can  bring  to  your  face  a  friendly  aspect 
to  overcome  the  threatening  looks  of  another.  The 
kindly  Samaritan  did  not  need  love  to  begin  his  serv- 
ice; all  he  needed  was  to  release  his  friendly  will; 
affection  would  come  in  due  time  with  better  ac- 
quaintance. There  is  danger  of  hypocrisy  if  we 
talk  too  glibly  about  love,  or  strain  after  it. 

Moreover,  will,  fairly  understood,  is  the  center  of 
life,  the  kernel  of  the  self.  What  other  force  is  so 
real  and  so  spiritual?  Nothing  else  but  a  good  will 
commands  the  whole  being  into  its  service.  The 
only  use  of  the  will  is  to  express  good;  that  is, 
friendly,  social,  useful  life.  Can  you  imagine  an 
infinite  evil  will?  Thus  the  grand  law,  however  we 
turn,  writes  itself:  Be  your  best  self;  be  a  good  will; 
express  the  good  will  always  to  all  beings;  never 
cease  to  let  the  good  will  flow  in  some  appropriate 
form  of  beneficence.  This  is  life  at  its  full.  Call  it 
the  universe  life,  or  life  eternal,  and  you  will  not 
call  it  by  too  high  a  name.  Never  doubt  that  you, 
being  the  child  of  the  universe,  share  this  mode  of 
life.  Trust  that  such  life  is  in  other  men  also,  who 
would  not  be  human  if  they  did  not  possess  it.  Ex- 
pect it  in  them,  call  it  forth  by  your  own  hearty  ut- 
terance; be  patient  if  need  be,  with  the  child,  with 
the  ignorant,  with  the  wrong  doer;  for  there  sleeps 
in  each  the  spirit  that  makes  men. 

Finally,  this  is  as  verifiable  as  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion.    Do  you  doubt  gravitation?     Throw  a  ball 


THE  SUMMUM   BONUM  105 

into  the  air  or  jump  from  the  steps.     Gravitation 
possesses  you.     Look  for  it  everywhere  and  you  will 
see  it  at  work.     No  man  could  "  become  a  Chris- 
tian " — whatever  this  means  —  if  this  were  not  so. 
Who  has  never  caught  the  gleam  of  its  light  in  a 
little  child's  face  or  its  tones  in  his  voice?     Recall 
the  most  royal  moments,  hours,  days,  in  your  life, 
and  discover  what  made  them?     These  were  never 
the  times  of  pushing  self-indulgence,  of  vulgar  com- 
petition to  seem  greater  than  others,  of  eager  effort 
to  get  what  you  had  not  earned,  or  of  angry  strug- 
gle :  they  were  the  times,  however  brief,  when  your 
good  will  uttered  itself.      Friendship  is  one  of  its 
names;  devotion  is  a  name  of  it;  love  is  its  name. 
Have  you  never  had  friends?     Have  you  never  en- 
joyed an  unselfish  love  for  your  mother  or  any  one 
else?     Have  you  never  given  an  hour  to  stand  by 
some  one  in  distress?     To  tell  your  sympathy  to 
some  one  in  trouble?     To  pay  a  call  on  a  sick  neigh- 
bor?    All  was  well  with  you  then.     You  were  mak- 
ing an  experiment  in  good  will.     This  was  rehgion 
at  work.     Why  do  not  men  continually  verify  their 
rehgion?     Why  do  they  not  hnk  moment  to   mo- 
ment, as  men  draw  dots  into  lines  and  lines  into  cir- 
cles and  forms,  and  so,  instead  of  disconnected,  pur- 
poseless  fragments  of  Hfe,  build  their  whole  hves 
into  unity,   like   so   many  beautiful  works  of   art? 
There  are  such  lives;  we  have  seen  the  manifesta- 
tion of  "  the  sons  of  God  "  again  and  again.     The 
good  will,  the  true  self  within  us,  waits  ready  to 
order  all  our  lives  likewise. 


VI 

TWO    LEVELS    OF    LIFE:    THE    GREAT    ADVENTURE 

I  WISH  in  no  way  to  blunt  the  fact  of  the  moral  dif- 
ferences in  men.  There  are  profound  and  startling 
differences  —  of  just  and  unjust,  kind  and  cruel, 
gentle  and  arbitrary,  clean  and  devilish.  But  these 
differences  do  not  lie  as  people  commonly  place 
them.  It  pleases  us  somehow  to  draw  sharp  lines 
with  heavy  shading  between  one  man  and  his  neigh- 
bors:  one  is  good,  the  other  is  bad;  one  is  moral, 
the  other  immoral.  We  like  to  draw  such  sharp 
lines  between  whole  groups  of  men;  between  parties 
—  our  party  and  the  opposite  or  worse  party;  be- 
tween nations  —  our  own  and  rival  or  enemy  na- 
tions; between  races  —  our  own  gifted  and  forward- 
looking  race  over  against  the  darker  and  backward 
races.  We  exaggerate  the  virtues  on  our  side  of 
the  line  and  the  vices  on  the  other  side.  You  may 
call  this  the  vertical  method  of  distinction.  No 
quarrel  or  war  could  be  carried  on  without  the  use 
of  this  method. 

Moreover,  you  can  always  make  this  kind  of  dif- 
ference look  plausible,  and  always  in  your  own 
favor.  But  the  other  man  can  do  the  same  thing 
from  his  point  of  view.  You  naturally  leave  out 
the  seamy  side  of  your  family,  your  party,  your  na- 

io6 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  LIFE  1 07 

tion,  your  sect,  your  own  personal  character,  and 
you  assume  all  the  bright  colors  that  you  like  to  paint 
with.  The  other  does  the  same  in  favor  of  the  Eng- 
lish, or  Japanese,  or  Teutonic  side.  Attend  a  Fore- 
fathers' Day  Celebration.  You  would  think  that 
your  ancestors  were  of  one  mold,  that  all  had  the 
same  heroism,  devotion,  piety,  faithfulness.  You 
would  think  that  the  inheritors  of  their  names  pos- 
sess their  virtues  to-day!  Was  there  ever  a  Golden 
Age  in  the  colonies  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts 
Bay? 

The  real  and  deep  differences  among  men  are 
drawn  the  other  way;  they  are  horizontal.  They 
are  through  each  man's  soul;  they  go  like  the  strata 
in  the  hills  through  sects,  religions,  parties,  nations 
and  races.  If  a  stratum  is  worthless  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  the  same  stratum  is  worthless  in  New  York 
or  Chicago.  If  the  stratum  carries  gold  or  dia- 
monds here  in  the  United  States,  then  look  for  the 
same  virtues,  more  or  less,  in  India  or  Siberia. 

This  is  to  say  that  there  seem  to  be  different 
selves,  almost  like  persons,  in  us.  We  often  remark 
this  in  others;  we  wonder  which  self  will  meet  us  in 
the  morning?  A  delightful  person  may  come  to 
breakfast;  he  will  smile  on  us;  he  will  help  us,  at 
least  for  awhile;  he  will  say  Yes  to  our  requests. 
But  the  chance  is  that  a  different  person  will  appear, 
querulous,  forbidding,  disobliging;  he  will  say  No 
to  us;  he  is  capable  of  meannesses  which  we  would 
not  think  credible.  This  is  the  alter  ego,  the  other 
self  in  the  same  man.     Here  in  each  man  is  the  field 


Io8  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

of  moral  distinctions;  here  Is  the  fatal  difference  be- 
tween bad  and  good,  sinner  and  saint,  honest  and 
dishonest,  noble  and  base.  Inhabiting  the  same 
Individual,  they  make  the  most  tremendous  contrast 
in  blacks  and  whites.  What  a  mystery!  What  is 
the  real  man?  Who  knows?  A  fight  seems  to  go 
on  In  a  soul.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  all 
about  this  fight.  The  animal  In  the  man,  or  per- 
haps a  whole  menagerie  of  creatures  holds  the  bal- 
ance of  power. 

They  talk  of  the  "  soul  of  a  nation."  Is  there 
ever  such  a  thing?  Is  it  desirable?  The  nation, 
like  the  millions  of  souls  who  make  It,  is  diverse;  It 
is  swept  as  they  are  with  passions,  with  prejudices, 
with  lingering  superstitions,  with  the  mob  instincts 
of  the  herd,  as  cruel  and  Inhuman  to-day  as  were 
ever  the  rage  and  vengeance  of  a  Nero.  On  the 
other  hand,  these  innumerable  souls  will  answer  to 
the  call  of  a  melody,  of  an  orator,  of  a  prophet,  to 
the  motions  of  sympathy  or  enthusiasm;  a  noble  pas- 
sion Is  in  them,  feeling  a  common  social  pulse,  to  lay 
down  their  lives  for  humanity!  The  difference  here 
Is  between  the  same  people  at  their  worst  and  at 
their  best.  Devils  could  not  be  worse  than  the  soul 
of  the  people  at  their  worst.  Angels  could  hardly 
be  better  than  the  same  people,  when  they  show 
us  their  best.  Their  faces  are  transfigured.  If 
they  were  always  so,  you  could  call  them  "  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  God  "  !  Surely  the  nation,  Itself  a 
myriad  of  discordant  lives,  has  no  soul  or  unity! 

The  fact  is,  there  are  in  us,  or  possible  for  us,  two 


TWO  LEVELS  OF   LIFE  109 

levels  of  life.  The  greatest  differences  of  bad  and 
good  In  the  universe  exist  between  these  two  levels. 
The  higher  level  Is  the  realm  of  the  spirit.  The 
lower  level  comprises  everything  below.  Above,  the 
man  acts  and  behaves  as  a  man;  here  his  humanity 
distinguishes  him.  He  Is  In  the  best  company;  any 
and  every  other  man  who  stands  on  this  level  ap- 
proves and  recognizes  him  as  a  comrade.  Below, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  Is  less  than  himself;  he  wan- 
ders; he  keeps  dubious  company;  even  when  held 
back  from  evil  by  the  habits  and  the  memories  of 
his  better  self,  he  is  subject  to  dangerous  moods  and 
subtle  selfish  temptations.  Like  a  locomotive  off 
its  track,  the  fact  of  his  native  excellence,  and  the 
heavier  momentum  that  he  had  while  he  ran  on  the 
track,  now  give  him  greater  possible  destructlve- 
ness.  Who  have  always  contrived  to  steer  their 
fellows  to  shipwreck,  and  balk  the  movements  of 
progress  so  fatally,  as  the  men  who  have  dropped 
from  the  path  of  manly  integrity  and  taken  up 
service  with  the  geocentric  creatures  on  the  level 
below?     Search  the  list  of  the  "  Lost  Leaders." 

It  Is  as  If  there  were  a  certain  point  of  develop- 
ment about  which  men  rise  and  fall,  and  rise  and  fall 
back  again.  They  are  like  the  amphibian  born  in 
the  slime,  on  Its  way  to  become  a  bird  and  command 
the  air.  The  creature  struggles  and  grows  and  uses 
his  wings,  but  men  bob  up  and  down,  with  no  will  to 
master  the  elements  and  make  the  winds  serve  them. 
They  take  pleasure  In  occasional  moments  of  eleva- 
tion and  vision,  as  they  accept  and  enjoy  a  holiday 


no  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

among  the  mountains;  it  does  not  occur  to  them  that 
the  happiest  holiday  is  a  sample  and  parable  of  what 
all  days  ought  to  be. 

We  often  say  of  a  man:  He  has  never  "  found 
himself."  He  may  be  a  university  man;  he  may 
wear  a  theologian's  doctorate,  or  be  a  preacher  of 
religion.  In  certain  moods,  in  the  presence  of  cer- 
tain persons,  he  is  gracious,  friendly  and  even  de- 
vout. In  other  moods,  no  iceberg  is  more  chilling 
and  isolated.  He  is  capable  of  injustices  and  false- 
hood. Do  not  call  him  a  hypocrite.  His  better 
self  is  there  as  truly  as  in  men  of  more  positive  and 
transparent  character.  He  does  touch  the  higher 
level.  But  he  has  never  determined  to  live  on  that 
level,  and  be  the  real  man  whom  nature  destined  him 
to  be.  He  is  still  the  slave  of  his  pet  indulgences. 
Most  likely,  as  Newman  said  of  himself,  pride  rules 
his  will.  What  fatal  waste  of  splendid  human  en- 
dowments ! 

A  woman  in  this  intermediate  region  is  even  more 
pathetic  in  proportion  to  the  fineness  of  her  nature. 
Unhappy  lives,  loving  natures  scorched  and  seared, 
affections  unrequited,  make  up  the  story-teller's  ma- 
terial. The  gravest  fault  is  not  to  grow.  The  an- 
cient word  applies  here:  "The  soul  that  sinneth 
(that  is,  fails  to  grow)  shall  die."  This  is  no  arbi- 
trary punishment,  as  of  an  angry  God.  It  is  the 
working  of  the  beneficent  conditions  of  life.  The 
more  delicate  the  flower,  the  more  sure  the  law  is, 
either  to  build  life  up,  or  to  sap  its  beauty.     The 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  LIFE  III 

woman,  therefore,  needs  religion  and  suffers  for  the 
want  of  It,  If  possible  more  than  the  man.  Her 
proper  life  and  her  glory  Is  In  and  with  the  beautiful, 
gracious  things  of  the  spirit;  her  life  Is  In  all  ways 
to  minister  to  the  service  of  love.  Only  so  can  her 
soul  find  peace,  be  In  tune,  find  God,  and  Impart  the 
secret  of  restfulness. 

Every  youth  Is  apt  to  come  to  a  time  of  change, 
confusion,  and  revolt  from  the  old;  of  occasional 
flashes  also  of  Insight  and  longing  for  the  unknown, 
the  real  and  the  Infinite.  The  youth  Is  put  to  it 
to  find  himself;  to  determine  where  he  belongs,  to 
which  realm  he  will  devote  his  life.  As  In  the 
strange  New  Testament  story  of  the  temptation,  he 
Is  taken  Into  a  high  mountain  and  made  to  see  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  and  to  dare  to  put  them 
aside;  Is  taken  up,  too.  Into  the  realm  of  beauty  and 
goodness,  and  made  to  hear  a  voice  saying:  "All 
things  are  yours;  be  sharer  henceforth  In  the  life, 
the  power,  the  purpose,  the  vision  of  God."  May 
not  the  world  of  mankind  be  near  to  a  similar 
crisis?  May  we  not  be  living  at  present  in  a  sort 
of  intermediate  age,  betwixt  our  worst  and  our  best 
as  a  race,  dimly  feeling  a  new  urgency  acting  on  all 
lives  to  find  themselves  upon  the  new  level  of  our 
common  spiritual  manhood?  The  childhood  of  the 
race  lies  behind  us:  our  manhood  lies  before  us. 
The  whole  world  of  man  is  thus  in  transition  to  a 
level  where  only  the  few  ever  found  themselves 
yet.  Therefore  the  present  chaos  and  seeming 
moral  confusion.     Therefore  the  growing  sense  of 


112  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

necessary  and  coming  change.  To  ''  find  himself  " 
for  the  youth  is  to  begin  his  real  life.  For  the 
world  to  find  itself  will  be  its  first  real  civilization. 
To  find  one's  self  as  a  man  is  a  new  experience, 
but  it  has  plenty  of  suggestive  analogues.  To  learn 
any  art  or  trade  is  a  process  of  finding  one's  self. 
You  begin  without  eflfectiveness  or  freedom.  You 
begin  with  a  careless  waste  of  opportunities,  like  a 
child  dancing  on  the  beach  without  trying  to  plunge 
in  and  swim.  Out  of  a  time  of  bondage  or  appren- 
ticeship the  master  emerges.  Gleams  of  success  and 
happy  attainment  and  alternating  moods  of  depres- 
sion attend  his  progress  and  herald  his  attainment. 
At  length  and  perhaps  with  a  burst  of  surprise,  you 
"find  yourself."  You  no  longer  count  the  hours; 
the  work  now  becomes  gladsome,  facile,  effective,  at 
times  enthusiastic.  I  do  not  say  utterly  happy, 
without  humiliating  hours  and  feeble  performance. 
Do  the  great  masters  of  music  or  science  never  grow 
weary  of  their  infinite  task?  The  difference  from 
what  was  before  is,  that  now,  when  you  drop  from 
your  freedom  and  mastery,  or  spoil  the  work  of  the 
day,  you  know  it,  and  know  also  how  to  get  your 
engine  back  on  its  track;  you  know  how  to  turn  your 
lapses  into  new  mastery;  you  love  your  art  and  you 
can  never  renounce  it. 

Stupid  theologies,  taught  In  divinity  schools,  have 
thrown  around  the  new  life  displeasing  names  and 
a  confusing  cloud  of  absurd  and  forbidding  mystery. 
The  fact  of  finding  oneself  as  a  master  of  life,  the 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  LIFE  113 

discovery  of  a  new  level  whereon  man  belongs  — 
that  which  Is  something  like  falling  in  love  —  the 
one  grand  event  of  a  life  —  has  been  made  to  seem 
alien  and  unreal.  Those  who  are  supposed  to  have 
passed  through  it  have  not  half  understood  it.  It 
has  not  been  made  to  appear  a  matter  of  practical 
use,  a  happy  secret  of  life,  but  to  many,  something 
forbidding.  Even  the  "  liberal "  churches  have 
made  little  or  nothing  of  it. 

Would  that  when  they  told  us  of  "  the  new  life," 
or  the  "  new  birth  "  they  had  known  how  to  set 
forth  an  Idea  as  beautiful  as  Dante  had  seen  In  his 
vision !  Would  that  they  had  told  us  how  this  new 
birth  into  the  realm  of  the  spirit  is  as  natural  as 
the  physical  beginning  of  life !  They  told  us  in- 
stead that  we  were  born  in  sin,  thus  throwing  disre- 
spect on  the  love  of  our  parents.  The  process  was 
said  to  be  awfully  sudden,  whereas  In  fact  It  may 
be  no  more  sudden  than  the  birth  of  the  spring  time. 
Perhaps  you  will  swim  the  first  time  you  go  into  the 
water;  most  of  us  are  slow  in  learning  the  motions. 
The  great  appeal  has  been  made  to  a  man's  emo- 
tions and  fears;  whereas,  the  normal  appeal  is  to 
the  Intelligence,  the  choice,  the  will,  the  whole  self. 

When  we  put  aside  the  supernatural,  we  put  aside 
no  ultimate  fact.  A  mystery  resides  in  all  life.  In 
all  processes  and  phenomena  and  most  of  all  In  the 
deep  heart  of  humanity,  besides  that  which  we  "  ex- 
plain "  there  is  a  fringe  or  overplus  which  no  one  ex- 
plains or  defines.  This  mystery  of  life  is  not  ir- 
rational; law  and  order  proceed  out  of  the  mystery. 


114  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

In  this  sense,  the  experience  which  we  are  stating  is 
as  if  some  Hfe  force  —  the  creative  will  —  springing 
out  of  the  recesses  of  being,  were  with  us  and  com- 
panioning us  to  the  new  level  of  manhood.  Differ- 
ent persons  describe  it  in  different  terms;  most  men 
do  not  even  try  to  describe  it.  "  I  know,"  said  the 
man  born  blind,  "  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I 
see."  "  Last  year,"  says  the  young  swimmer,  "  I 
was  afraid  of  the  water;  now  I  love  it."  Another 
says,  "  I  cannot  remember  when  I  first  learned  to 
swim."  "  I  learned,"  says  another,  "  with  the  help 
of  my  father." 

No  "  conversion  "  or  spiritual  change,  however, 
is  good  for  much  which  is  not  a  permanent  change. 
It  is  the  change  from  the  selfish  life  to  the  social  life, 
from  self-will  to  good  will.  Most  conversions,  for 
example,  in  revivals,  are  disappointing  because  there 
is  no  real  change  in  the  will.  What  a  bona  fide 
change  does  for  a  man  is  shown  in  the  classic  story 
of  Paul.  The  "  old  man  "  and  the  new  man  are 
here  set  off  by  contrast.  The  Saul  whom  men  knew 
in  Tarsus  and  at  the  official  council  in  Jerusalem 
was  essentially  hard,  strict,  and  implacable,  and  bent 
on  procuring  punishment  for  a  pestilent  sect.  He 
was  clothed  in  the  hardly-earned  self-righteousness 
of  his  caste.  The  new  Paul  "  found  himself  "  and, 
more  important  yet,  was  found  by  others,  gentle, 
kindly,  socially-minded,  and  bent  on  saving  people 
from  any  need  of  punishment.  One  of  his  new 
marks  is  that  he  is  capable  of  confessing  his  faults 
or  mistakes !     He  is  not  asking  to  be  rewarded  and 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  LIFE  1 15 

praised  or  even  loved.  He  has  become  a  lover  of 
men.  The  grand  new  motion  of  the  good  will  has 
caught  his  life. 

That  which  came  to  Paul  is  a  new  spirit;  call 
it  the  spirit  of  religion  or  the  spirit  of  humanity; 
they  are  one.  The  working  of  this  spirit  is  the 
same  with  every  one  who  finds  himself.  The  fruits 
or  results  are  the  same.  Before,  the  man  was  noth- 
ing more  than  his  own  master;  he  is  now  every 
one's  friend;  that  is,  a  master  of  life.  Not  as  hav- 
ing attained  perfectness,  but  as  committed  and  de- 
voted to  the  attainment;  as  going  heart  and  mind 
and  will  and  all  with  its  beautiful  motion.  There 
are  unfathomable  heights  and  depths  in  this  art  of 
life! 

We  may  detest  war  and  yet  learn  from  it.  It 
is  a  tremendous  venture;  so  is  life.  It  demands  en- 
listment; so  does  the  good  life.  It  demands  the 
whole  man  and  not  part  of  him;  so  does  the  new 
life.  It  asks  a  certain  abandon;  the  soldier  enlists 
to  give  and  not  to  get.  Life  on  the  new  level  is  like- 
wise a  wholesale  and  gladsome  abandon.  "  It  is 
more  happy  to  give  than  to  receive."  The  soldier's 
life  is  for  its  period  the  one  thing.  Paul  said  the 
same  of  his  life:  "  This  one  thing  I  do."  What  do 
you  want  to  say  better  than  that?  Like  Gen.  Arm- 
strong, founder  of  the  great  Hampton  School,  you 
thus  choose  the  biggest  Hfe-purpose  there  Is.  The 
soldier  must  be  ready  to  die.  So  must  any  true 
man.     Life  has  in  it  perpetual  ventures  and  risks. 


ti6  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Who  wishes  to  run  away  from  them?  To  run  away 
is  to  die  —  as  a  man.  The  soldier  is  known  by  his 
courage.  The  man  of  good  will  adds  to  the  sol- 
dier's courage  the  eternal  and  costlier  thing  —  the 
courage  of  the  free  soul,  unafraid  of  what  man  says 
or  does. 

A  strange  paradox  offers  itself  in  the  life  of  the 
soldier.  I  do  not  mean  the  conscript.  For  con- 
scription is  despotism.  I  mean  the  volunteer.  He 
is  doing  that  which  he  wills  to  do.  To  be  willing  to 
die  is  a  will  to  live !  The  philosopher  means  this 
when  he  propounds  as  the  secret  of  life  the  idea: 
"  To  die  to  live."  The  word  whatsoever  runs  like 
a  refrain  through  the  New  Testament.  It  stands 
for  the  infinite  and  absolute  reality  underlying 
human  life.  I  enlist  not  merely  to  do  this  finite 
thing,  a  and  its  next,  b,  and  so  on,  but  I  enlist  with 
a  wholesale  trust  to  do  x,  the  unknown  and  y,  the 
next  unknown,  and  so  on,  beyond  my  sight.  This 
could  not  be  in  an  irrational  universe.  My  trust  is 
based  in  the  essential  reason,  unity  and  beneficence 
which  I  find  in  the  spiritual  order  of  life,  to  which 
I  belong. 

The  soldier  offering  up  life  and  happiness  gets,  as 
a  rule,  what  he  gives  away;  namely,  larger  flow  of 
life  and  zest.  They  call  it  "  sacrifice."  It  Is  sacri- 
fice for  the  unwilling  and  unknowing.  It  is  gain  and 
access  of  life  to  the  man  who  offers  all  for  any  cause 
above  himself.  This  is  the  mystic  consecration, 
which  we  gladly  recognize  as  shrouding  the  memory 
of  the  young  patriot  of  any  nation,  who  knowing 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  LIFE  117 

nothing  higher  and  doing  his  best,  dies  for  his  coun- 
try. Wasteful  as  it  seems  in  his  case,  it  is  an  act 
of  good  will.  The  time  must  come  when  the  leaders 
and  fathers  of  men,  who  like  the  kings  and  priests 
of  old,  have  sent  their  boys  through  the  fire,  will 
learn  how  to  use  life  for  a  larger  humanity  than  has 
ever  been  discovered  on  the  battlefield.  Then  they 
shall  see  that  no  conduct,  public  or  private,  can  ever 
be  righteous  or  worth  dying  for,  which  does  not 
carry  with  the  chivalrous  emotions  and  the  weight 
of  the  moral  judgment,  the  friendliness  of  the  par- 
ticipants and  respect  for  all  men. 

Have  we  made  the  difference  clear  between  the 
man  who  lives  above  and  the  man  who  lives  below 
the  level  of  his  manhood?  It  is  the  difference  be- 
tween your  best  self  and  your  lower  self.  To  quote 
an  old  teacher's  word,  "  There  are  only  two  kinds  of 
men  In  this  world  —  those  who  seek  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  and  those  who  do  not."  Translate  this  as 
you  please.  It  overrules  all  other  distinctions  — 
mental  ability,  natural  endowments,  skill  and  edu- 
cation. It  makes  a  brotherhood  of  all  souls  who 
follow  the  good  will  of  God. 

Jesus  bade  the  rich  young  man  to  sell  all  that  he 
had  and  come  with  him.  Was  this  too  much?  Any 
young  soldier  has  to  do  it.  No  matter  whether 
Jesus'  ultimatum  needs  to  be  taken  literally  or 
not.  The  idea  is  the  same.  The  infinitely  venture- 
some word  whatsoever  lies  at  the  heart  of  the  sen- 
tence. Whatever  the  good  will  asks,  you  must  do. 
What  better  thing  can  you  do? 


Il8  A  RELIGION    FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

It  is  as  if  the  Master  of  Life  were  saying  to  each 
of  us :  Do  this  one  thing :  take  my  light,  share  it,  re- 
flect it  at  every  angle,  pour  my  life  through  your 
being,  incorporate  the  universal  good  will  like  beauty 
into  the  works  of  your  hands,  and  make  it  prevail. 
So  shall  you  live,  so  others  shall  live  about  you, 
through  you,  beyond  your  sight;  so  generations  after 
you,  never  knowing  your  name,  shall  have  richer 
life.  To  do  this  is  the  "  great  adventure."  In 
short,  to  seek  to  do  and  dare  throughout  life  all  that 
the  soldier  can  do  or  dare  for  his  country  for  the 
time  of  the  war;  to  do  with  friendly  face  and  useful 
tools  for  all  mankind,  what  the  soldier  can  never  do 
with  hostile  mind  and  murderous  weapons  —  noth- 
ing less  than  this  is  the  scope  of  our  enterprise. 
Is  it  not  possible? 

I  suggested  that  when  once  the  world  of  mankind 
"  finds  itself,"  as  a  whole,  as  a  movement  and  a  des- 
tiny —  no  one  word  covers  our  thought  —  this  will 
be  civilization.  The  world  does  not  need  to  remain 
in  its  present  chaos  and  discord.  Already  deep  hu- 
manitarian and  social  forces  are  urging  men  into  na- 
tions, leagues  and  federations.  Already  men  wait 
for  nobler  leadership ;  they  cry  for  the  voice  of  the 
prophet;  they  would  thrill  to  the  call  of  the  trumpet 
sounding  the  march;  they  would  rally  to  undertake 
a  democracy  for  all  nations,  to  be  won  no  longer  by 
killing,  but  by  such  simple  good  will  as  every  woman 
and  child  can  contribute.  Once  set  a  fashion  this 
way,  once  proclaim  its  crusade  in  homes  and  shops, 


TWO  LEVELS  OF   LIFE  II9 

in  schoolhouses  and  temples,  and  who  shall  say  how 
soon  It  may  be  the  rule  of  the  world! 

"  I  will  overturn  and  overturn  and  overturn," 
says  the  old  text,  "  till  he  whose  right  it  Is  shall 
reign."  Let  man  try,  if  he  must,  every  other  mode 
of  life.  Nevertheless,  the  good  way  remains;  at 
last  man  shall  stand  in  it.  The  word  shall  be 
spoken,  "This  is  the  way;  walk  ye  in  it."  The 
best  is  inevitable  when  the  time  for  it  comes. 

Is  this  Inevitable  best  too  costly  for  us?  I  am 
aware  how  costly  man  still  makes  it  seem.  The 
voices  of  those  who  preach  the  current  religion  are 
not  prophetic.  The  stubborn  Pharisaism  of  the 
prosperous  classes  with  their  pride  of  power  still 
stands  in  the  way.  The  futile  and  crazy  cost  lav- 
ished in  carrying  on  war  is  not  the  cost  which  pur- 
chases humanity  or  brotherhood.  Civilization 
comes  at  a  more  lavish  cost  of  good  will.  Who 
dares  to  say  that  those  are  yet  in  sight  to  furnish 
the  cost?  Sometime  the  supply  must  rise  to  meet 
the  demand.  As  Nietzsche  says,  "  When  the  dis- 
tress is  greatest,  the  help  may  be  nearest  to  hand." 

The  fact  Is  that  man  normally  loves  to  do  good 
and  be  good.  He  is  fundamentally  social,  and  en- 
joys social  service.  Goodness  is  one  with  useful- 
ness. To  live  socially,  usefully,  cordially,  is  to  en- 
ter Into  the  circulation  of  life.  Man  hitherto  has 
thought  goodness  a  form  of  self-culture.  This  has 
not  appealed  to  him.  Henceforth  he  must  know 
that  every  useful  thing  he  does  or  says  or  thinks  Is 


I20  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

his  gift  for  all  men.  His  growing  trust  in  men,  his 
sympathies,  his  expectation  to  find  good  in  them,  go 
to  increase  the  circulation  of  the  common  life  of  the 
world.  He  has  been  taken  into  the  vast  telephone 
system  of  the  universe.  Messages,  warnings,  cries 
for  help,  words  of  good  cheer  come  over  his  line. 
Man  is  made  to  love  this  common  life. 


VII 

EVIL:    WHAT   TO    MAKE    OF    IT 

The  monster  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  faith  In 
the  good  Is  the  standing  presence  of  evil.  It  looms 
up  before  men  to-day  more  terrible  than  ever.  Men 
are  more  sensitive  and  more  sympathetic.  In  this 
modern  telephone  world  we  dally  hear  of  every  ap- 
palling mischance,  till  we  lose  our  sense  of  perspec- 
tive and  think  of  life  as  a  medley  of  suffering  and 
malignity.  Many  people  have  become  shy  of  pro- 
fessing a  belief  in  God.  An  evil  God  is  unimagin- 
able, an  indifferent  God  Is  worse  than  useless.  But 
how  can  a  loving  and  good  God  tolerate  evil?  Or, 
If  the  God  Idea  is  somehow  irrepressible,  how  far 
has  He  power  or  responsibility? 

It  has  become  almost  orthodox  to  hold  a  belief  In 
a  limited  God,  who  has  to  struggle  as  we  do;  who 
may  fail  as  we  fail;  whom  it  Is  our  business  to  help  I 
Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  has  made  this  Idea  popular.  The 
marvelous  conception  of  a  universe  of  spiritual  in- 
tegrity beyond  the  touch  of  hurt  —  of  reality  of 
which  the  mountains  are  only  a  shadow  —  of  a  one- 
ness and  a  sureness  above  the  heavens,  on  which  the 
souls  of  the  greatest  thinkers,  like  the  hearts  of  lit- 
tle children,  have  rested,  without  which  mankind 
would  seem  orphaned  Indeed,  seems  now  to  dissolve. 


122  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

But  neither  heart  nor  soul  nor  mind  is  satisfied. 
How  can  we,  once  having  conceived  the  All-wise  and 
All-good,  ever  admire  or  worship,  or  even  respect, 
a  partial,  limited,  finite,  blundering  deity,  not  yet 
grown  up,  unsure  of  himself?  Our  souls  cry  out 
for  the  living  God,  for  the  Infinite  and  perfect  in  wis- 
dom and  goodness.  We  find  In  ourselves  and  In 
other  men  also  a  semblance  of  the  same  indestructi- 
ble quality  of  the  Infinite !  We  Instinctively  wor- 
ship only  the  perfection  of  goodness.  This  Is  the 
tremendous  dilemma  and  the  problem  of  evil. 

Let  us  leave  behind  for  the  present  these  vast  in- 
quiries. Let  us  not  push  too  far  afield  to  find 
ground  for  our  faith.  How  could  man  ever  have 
faith,  unless  It  is  Impregnably  founded  within  us;  If 
our  spiritual  nature,  evidencing  Itself  In  human  life, 
is  not  itself  reality?  Let  us  not  throw  away  our 
faith  before  we  make  frank  Inquiry  what  It  Is  which 
we  call  evil.  Does  it  belong  In  the  realm  of  reality? 
Is  it  real,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  men  are  real? 

Is  evil  a  principle?  Certainly  not.  There  Is  no 
ultimate  principle  of  evil,  as  there  is  a  principle  of 
truth.  Is  evil  a  person?  Our  fathers,  following 
the  lead  of  Persian  mythology,  said.  Yes.  They 
imagined  an  evil  potentate  and  a  great  hierarchy  of 
devils.  God  was  responsible  for  the  good  in  the 
world.  The  devils  did  the  rest.  But  who  was 
responsible  for  the  devils?  Who  kept  the  fires  of 
hell?  We  have  pushed  away  this  Imagery  as  pre- 
posterous. Not  only  is  there  no  evidence  for  belief 
In  Satan,  but  the  belief  is  bad  "  pragmatically  " ;  that 


evil:  what  to  make  of  it  123 

is,  it  is  unwholesome.  It  adds  a  needless  imaginary 
burden  to  other  evils.  It  leads  men  to  expect  and 
therefore  to  suffer  evils  which  otherwise  would  not 
exist.  There  is  no  particle  of  proof  that  evil  is  a 
person,  or  a  unity.  There  can  be  no  self-existence 
in  a  negation.  Evils  are  in  things,  in  men,  in  our- 
selves. But  no  evil  like  the  mythical  serpent  in  the 
garden  ever  spoke  to  us  I 

There  is,  then,  no  malice,  no  ugly  or  cruel  intent 
in  evil.  The  storm  wrecks  your  ship,  but  no  touch 
of  malice  is  in  its  "  angry  waves."  Seen  from  a 
cliff  they  are  beautiful.  The  mosquito,  the  croco- 
dile, the  tiger  are  evil  only  by  a  metaphor.  They 
have  no  hatred,  no  wicked  purpose;  they  never  plot 
injury  against  you.  In  their  swamp  or  jungle  they 
are  neither  good  nor  evil,  so  far  as  you  are  con- 
cerned. The  pain  of  the  toothache,  so  far  from 
carrying  malice,  has  an  actual  use  which  may  serve 
to  save  our  tooth.  Malice  is  not  in  evil,  but  in  per- 
sons. The  only  persons  of  whom  we  know  anything, 
who  bear  malice,  are  men.  But  malice  in  men  is  like 
a  disease  or  deformity.  It  does  not  belong  to  them 
as  men.  So  far  as  it  is  evil,  it  is  remediable.  We 
shall  return  later  to  the  subject  of  evil  in  men. 

If  evil  exists  in  things,  it  is  not  evil  in  itself,  but 
only  as  related  to  us,  who  get  into  its  way.  The 
mote  or  beam  in  one's  eye  is  innocent  anywhere  else. 
The  morass  is  not  evil  or  inconvenient  till  man  needs 
a  road  through  it.  Is  it  evil  that  the  Culebra  Hill 
keeps  on  sliding  into  our  Panama  Canal?  What  do 
you  expect  if  you  burrow  into  the  side  of  a  moun- 


124  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

tain?  Such  accidents  endanger  dividends  and  cause 
disappointment  and  suffering.  Do  you  always  ex- 
pect dividends  without  any  untoward  conditions? 
With  each  new  invention  or  enterprise,  the  electric 
light  or  the  aeroplane,  we  stir  up  a  fresh  group  of 
"  evils,"  of  which  we  had  been  unaware.  They  are 
only  evil  as  related  to  our  enterprise.  To  the 
learner  in  flying,  the  hardness  of  the  earth  Is  an  evil ! 

What  now  If  you  enter  complaint  against  pain, 
suffering,  broken  limbs,  broken  hearts.  In  short, 
against  our  sensitive  nerves?  Is  consciousness  then 
the  evil  one,  who  makes  pain  for  us?  Or  do  you  go 
with  certain  Hindu  philosophers  and  altogether  de- 
precate consciousness?  This  means  not  to  wish  to 
live;  the  mystery  of  life  runs  thus  into  pessimism; 
but  all  healthy  people  prefer  to  keep  their  conscious- 
ness. 

Suppose  we  could  vote  out  of  the  world  all  that 
side  of  life  which  we  class  as  evil.  There  shall  be 
no  pain,  no  tears,  no  disease,  no  failure,  no  disap- 
pointment, no  fatigue,  no  hunger  or  thirst,  no  occa- 
sion of  fear,  no  shadow  of  death;  of  course,  also  no 
crime,  injustice,  hatred,  cruelty,  insult,  blows;  no 
punishments,  no  fighting  nor  oppression;  no  risks  of 
hurt,  physical  or  spiritual,  shall  be  possible;  no  tre- 
mendous ventures  shall  be  asked  of  any  one.  Every- 
thing shall  be  made  smooth,  prosperous,  easy,  ample. 
Do  you  like  the  prospect? 

Be  sure  what  this  means.  Does  It  mean  anything 
significant  or  satisfying?  What  would  you  do  with 
yourself?     You    would    never    have    any    pressing 


evil:  what  to  make  of  it  125 

necessities  or  urgent  desires.  You  would  never  need 
to  build  a  house  or  protect  yourself  against  cold  or 
storm  or  heat.  Would  you  love  your  children? 
They  would  cost  you  no  more  than  the  young  of  a 
codfish;  you  would  never  need  to  do  anything  for 
them;  they  would  not  suffer  from  neglect  and  ex- 
posure, nor  would  you  ever  be  anxious  for  their  wel- 
fare. Would  you  enjoy  the  company  of  your 
friends?  But  you  never  could  do  anything  for  them. 
They  would  all  have  plenty  of  potatoes  or  bananas; 
they  could  not  possibly  come  to  want.  You  could 
never  read  soul-stirring  stories  or  poems,  or  expe- 
rience the  thrill  of  a  drama.  That  which  stirs  the 
soul  and  makes  the  thrills,  flows  out  of  a  reservoir 
of  experience,  from  suffering,  dread,  awe,  reverence, 
victory.  Sympathy  Is  the  key  to  the  scenes  of  the 
story  or  drama.  Sympathy  is  to  suffer  with;  there 
Is  no  sympathy  and  no  use  for  it  in  the  merely  sensual 
v/orld  which  we  seek  to  imagine.  Who  would  not 
rather  vote  for  this  strange  world  of  struggle,  sin 
and  death,  where  nevertheless  courage,  integrity, 
faith,  hope,  sympathy,  and  good  will  are  unconquer- 
able by  evil ! 

But  perhaps  you  would  rebuild  your  world  with 
a  moderate  and  comfortable  degree  of  "evil"? 
You  would  have  just  enough  to  make  no  serious 
trouble  or  cause  for  anxiety.  Is  it  evil,  then,  if  you 
need  a  modicum,  like  so  much  salt,  to  mix  with  your 
good?  Is  it  only  evil  when  any  one  gets  too  much? 
Is  evil  possibly  an  excess  of  a  good?  Pray  how 
much     would     you     recommend    before     you     cry 


126  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

"  enough  "?  Some  pain,  but  not  too  much;  a  little 
touch  of  suffering;  children's  diseases,  perhaps,  but 
no  smallpox  or  plague;  rain  and  wind,  but  no  torna- 
does or  lightning  strokes;  slight  but  never  heavy 
frosts  or  blights ;  just  enough  care  to  keep  the  farmer 
busy;  a  little,  but  never  colossal  selfishness;  pardon- 
able pride,  but  no  arrogance;  mild  quarrels,  but  no 
deadly  wars;  no  bitterness,  no  tragedies;  no  extrem- 
ities of  struggle  for  food  or  life;  an  easy  death,  if 
death  must  still  stand  at  the  end  of  the  way!  And 
if  ever  terrible  mishap  threatened  to  befall  the  man 
or  the  race,  as  has  ever  and  anon  befallen  the  world, 
the  Master  of  Life  should  interfere  with  the  kindly 
wand  of  his  power ! 

Would  you  also  tame  the  visible  world  down  to 
match  your  program?  Lower  the  mountains,  re- 
move dangerous  cliffs,  annihilate  tigers  and  wolves, 
vote  swamps  and  deserts  out  of  your  country,  ask  for 
fertile  lands  everywhere?  Do  you  expect  still  to 
keep  in  your  safe  earth  strenuous,  daring,  invincible 
men,  a  courage  unafraid  of  peril,  the  love  that  poets 
sing,  watchful  devotion,  infinite  enthusiasm,  all-em- 
bracing good  will? 

Your  Utopia  of  moderate  and  well-tamed  "  evil  " 
calls  for  nothing  that  gives  human  life  its  distinc- 
tion. No  great  history  is  possible,  no  Christ,  no 
Socrates,  no  Garibaldi,  is  wanted.  Your  well-kept, 
safely  Insured  children  could  never  hear  the  story 
of  a  hero.  Could  you  ever  be  civilized  in  your  world 
of  limited  "  evil  "  ?  How  could  you  know  the  spirit- 
ual  values?     Your   tame  life   would  not  even  be 


EVIL:   WHAT  TO  MAKE  OF  IT  127 

earned;  it  would  not  be  your  own!  Ask  something 
harder,  if  you  wish  to  be  men,  the  sons  of  God. 
Perhaps  we  shall  find  that  this  is  just  the  kind  of 
world  to  make  men  I 

There  is  a  form  of  complaint,  however,  about  the 
world  which  deserves  careful  respect.  It  is  on  the 
score  of  the  overwhelming  injustice  that  falls  to  the 
lot  of  the  innocent,  of  both  men  and  animals.  They 
suffer  who  have  deserved  no  ill,  much  less  punish- 
ment. They  suffer  from  others'  cruelty  or  greed; 
they  do  the  hardest  work  for  the  smallest  pay. 
They  suffer  in  horrible  wars,  compelled  to  die  for 
the  quarrels  of  their  oppressors.  And  high  heaven 
sees  this  astonishing  process  of  injustice  go  on 
through  the  ages  I  It  seems  as  if  injustice  were  em- 
bedded in  the  core  of  things.  If  those  only  suffered 
who  deserve  to  suffer  I 

A  curious  misapprehension  survives  here  from  the 
legend  of  the  Garden  of  Eden!  The  great  and 
na'ive  idea  was  that  evil  is  the  fruit  of  disobedience. 
Once  no  pain  was,  or  poisonous  weed,  or  death. 
But  Evil  rushed  into  the  world  like  a  flood  the  mo- 
ment Adam  took  the  fatal  fruit.  Every  one  knows 
now  that  pain  and  death  were  here  before  man  was. 
Pain  and  ''  evil  "  like  bad  weather  come  to  all  of 
us;  the  good  Job  may  suffer  much  or  little;  the 
tyrant  likewise.  There  is  suffering  from  a  kind  con- 
science that  comes  only  to  the  virtuous,  like  the  pain 
of  a  discord  to  the  musician.  There  are  kinds  of 
suffering  that  fit  certain  offenses  and  warn  men 
against  them.     Thus,  sensual  indulgence  brings  the 


128  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

decay  of  body  and  mind.  Even  here  in  the  nature 
of  things,  suffering  cannot  come  to  the  evil-doer 
without  involving  others.  We  are  social  beings  in- 
extricably locked  up  with  each  other's  weal  or  woe. 
Do  you  wish  to  be  unhnked  from  the  bonds  of  society 
for  the  sake  of  your  tiny  conception  of  personal 
justice? 

What  is  justice?  What  does  any  man  deserve? 
No  one  knows,  least  of  all  the  man  himself,  who  gen- 
erally claims  more  than  belongs  to  him.  Moreover, 
no  one  can  spell  the  meaning  of  justice,  till  he  finds 
out  what  life  means.  What  is  life  for?  It  is  not 
measured  for  men  by  what  we  get  of  food  or  pay, 
least  of  all  by  the  pleasures  that  come  to  us.  It  is 
measured  by  what  we  do,  what  we  express,  what  we 
become  as  men.  What  if  suffering  serves  in  the 
making  of  a  man's  life?  What  if  the  greatest  boon 
in  the  world  is  to  share,  as  simple  men  daily  share, 
in  expressing  the  infinite  good-will?  Now  this  mode 
of  experience  never  could  be  without  suffering  man's 
common  lot.  What  if  progress  comes,  as  men  are 
enabled  more  and  more  willingly  to  share  in  what- 
ever concerns  the  welfare  of  all?  Those  who  know 
most  assure  us  that  this  is  so.  The  people  who, 
though  innocent,  suffer  and  toil  above  the  average, 
actually  attain  the  power  both  to  enjoy  life  and  to 
increase  the  common  welfare.  Is  not  the  universe 
then  doing  its  best  for  us?  There  is  that  which  is 
higher  than  justice  and  surpasses  our  little  measure 
of  justice.  You  say  "  the  world  —  or  God  —  is  not 
fair."     How  do  you  know,  unless  you  have  honestly 


evil:  what  to  make  of  it     ■     129 

tried  a  way,  which  thousands  of  men  tell  you  has 
not  only  given  them  a  new  sympathy  with  all  who 
suffer,  but  has  also  rendered  them  invulnerable  to 
the  sting  of  injustice  ? 

Certain  obvious  remarks  about  evil  now  occur  to 
us.  In  the  first  place,  of  most  things  that  men  class 
as  evil,  we  never  know  till  afterwards  whether  they 
are  evil  or  good.  The  good  may  turn  out  to  be 
evil,  the  gain  to  be  loss,  and  the  evil  often  Avorks 
for  good.  What  if  a  man  loses  his  fortune?  His 
having  it  may  have  been  the  worst  thing  that  ever 
happened  to  him.  Perhaps  he  had  never  earned 
it.  Its  loss  may  be  the  beginning  of  real  and  true 
life.  Epictetus  says  that  the  blows  of  his  boxing 
teacher  were  good  for  him.  The  men  who  thought 
them  evil  never  learned  to  box.  Dr.  Howe,  the 
great  lover  of  the  blind,  used  to  say,  "  An  obstacle 
is  something  to  be  overcome."  He  put  the  obstacles 
into  the  day's  work,  till  all  work  became  like  play. 

A  man  reviewing  his  life,  and  having  the  key  to 
its  meaning,  may  find  that  nothing  has  been  evil  to 
him.  He  has  learned  lessons  from  suffering,  from 
rebuke  and  criticism,  from  injustices  done  him,  from 
illness  and  physical  limitations,  from  being  defeated 
and  humiliated,  from  innumerable  petty  sufferings 
and  disappointments,  so  borne  as  to  broaden  his 
views  and  make  him  a  grown  and  mature  man. 
Such  a  man  can  say  to  the  last,  "  The  best  is  yet 
to  be !  "  Our  good  religion  enables  us  thus  to  take 
over  all  kinds  of  experiences  and  to  translate  them 


I30  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

out  of  the  field  of  chaos  or  evil  into  the  orderly  con- 
structive realm  of  the  good.  Paul  knew  the  secret, 
''  in  all  things  to  be  content."  Browning  knows  this 
secret  when  he  cries,  "  Then  welcome  each  rebuff 
that  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough."  Where  does 
not  evil  offer  itself,  like  the  malarial  swamps,  to  be 
converted  into  good? 

Again,  there  is  in  life  a  deep  law  of  contrast,  of 
darkness  and  light,  pain  and  pleasure,  hunger  and 
satisfaction,  evil  and  good.  We  call  the  reverse 
side  evil.  Is  it  evil?  Is  the  darkness  evil?  Evil, 
if  one  is  lost  in  the  woods;  very  good  to  the  tired 
workman.  How  could  we  learn  anything,  or  know 
the  real  good  from  the  false,  without  the  perpetual 
contrast?  '^  No  night  there !  "  This  would  be  good 
only  to  those  who  arrive  out  of  the  night.  How 
could  you  know  justice,  truth,  love,  unless  you  have 
known  the  opposites,  and  found  out  what  is  perma- 
nent? Could  the  child  ever  learn  to  know  and  love 
the  good  self,  without  having  been  tired,  pained, 
humiliated,  by  the  ugly  doings  of  his  selfish  self? 

Thus  contrast,  with  its  reverse  or  seamy  side, 
proves  to  be  a  form  of  language  or  punctuation,  in 
which  nature  speaks  to  us.  It  comes  as  the  waves 
come ;  it  carries  you  up  and  it  drops  you  down.  You 
would  like  to  remain  and  ride  on  the  top  of  the 
wave  —  never  to  sink  to  the  trough  of  the  sea.  You 
want  the  heights,  not  the  depths,  motion  and  no  ar- 
rest. Omnipotence  could  not  do  this  for  you.  Om- 
nipotence cannot  accomplish  irrationality  I 

Another  principle  in  life  is  the  law  of  cost  or 


EVIL:  WHAT  TO  MAKE  OF  IT  131 

effort.  It  seemed  once  evil  that  man  has  to  "  earn 
his  bread  with  the  sweat  of  his  brow  ";  work  was  a 
curse,  brought  on  man  by  sin.  Who  thinks  so  now? 
Whittle  the  cost  down  as  much  as  you  can;  invent  all 
possibly  machinery  to  reduce  labor;  get  a  four-hour 
day  for  the  world,  if  you  can;  still  the  beneficent  law 
stands.  You  could  know  and  prize  and  enjoy  no 
value  low  or  high  without  it.  Dream  if  you  will  of 
getting  power  and  life  for  nothing.  Would  it  be 
good  for  us?  Is  it  then  too  much  cost  and  effort 
that  you  reprobate?  The  question  of  good  and 
evil  is  relative.  Who  knows  what  is  too  much  to 
pay  for  an  education,  for  a  truth,  for  a  faith,  for 
your  love?  He  who  pays  most  often  loves  most. 
The  evil  is  to  pay  for  worthless  things.  Even  this 
may  not  be  evil,  before  you  have  found  out  their 
worthlessness.  You  cannot  know  the  gold  without 
knowing  brass  also. 

Dr.  Felix  Adler  in  his  suggestive  book,  "  An  Ethi- 
cal Philosophy  of  Life,"  calls  "  frustration  "  a  good 
part  of  life.  As  soon  as  we  make  any  gain  we  are 
presently  restrained  and  held  back.  Is  frustration, 
however,  the  right  word  to  use?  Frustration  hurts 
and  kills;  it  carries  the  suspicion  of  an  enemy  or 
frustrator.  The  word  is  another  negative  form  for 
our  friendly  law  of  effort  and  cost.  Call  it  also 
inertia  or  friction.  These  two  have  their  obvious 
use.  They  point  to  the  price  at  which  good  things 
come  to  beings  who  grow  under  finite  conditions  and 
march  a  step  at  a  time. 

Quarrel,  if  you  must,  with  the  fact  of  our  finite- 


132  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

ness ;  quarrel  with  the  fact  of  evolution ;  with  the  fact 
that  we  are  small  before  we  are  large;  quarrel  with 
life  and  the  costly  fact  of  consciousness.  Mean- 
while, whoever  learns  to  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done," 
the  good-will  he  done,  has  life  more  abundantly,  In 
the  only  way  possible.  Life  to  him  is  good  —  fric- 
tion, limitations,  frustration,  effort,  ventures,  cost, 
pain,  and  all;  to  him  death,  too,  which  only  is  known 
as  touching  the  body.  Is  also  good.  The  simple  ex- 
periment of  treating  the  universe  as  essentially  good, 
and  not  evil,  as  "  God's  world,"  and  not  a  devil's 
world,  does  this  for  any  one  who  will  try  it. 

Another  good  word,  not  always  pleasing  at  first 
but  good  In  the  end,  is  urgency.  It  is  constructive 
and  purposeful,  forever  pressing  us  to  live  and  grow. 
The  inertia,  the  friction,  the  frustration,  the  pain, 
now  becomes  an  Incitement  and  challenge  to  us,  to 
our  Intelligence,  our  imagination,  our  highest  de- 
sires, our  friendship,  devotion,  and  sympathy.  This 
Is  a  fact  of  daily  experience.  Whenever  our  mettle 
Is  tried,  our  stature  is  strengthened.  The  urging 
life-force  boils  up  against  the  restraining  earthy  mass 
and  sweeps  it  aside.  The  man's  self  asserts  his  will 
over  physical  weakness  and  masters  desire;  it  stiffens 
Itself  against  storm  and  cold,  and  builds  protection 
for  Its  little  ones;  it  wearies  of  the  pest-breeding 
slums  of  its  towns,  and  rouses  itself  to  clean  them 
up.  It  is  stirring  now  in  millions  of  minds  to  ban 
war  from  the  earth.  Humanity  grows  apace  with 
every  effort  to  which  uncomfortable  strictures,  pain- 
ful hurts,  sorry  disasters,  crushing  disappointments 


evil:  what  to  make  of  it         133 

succeeding  each  other,  urge  men  to  strive  and  climb 
and  overcome.  The  word  of  the  Master  of  Life 
comes  clear  the  oftener  you  heed  it:  March!  For- 
ward! To  obey  is  "life  more  abundant."  The 
only  really  evil  world  would  be  that  in  which  living 
things  could  be  allowed  to  grow  rank  and  vile,  and 
not  to  "  die  game." 

Why  not  frankly  say  now  what  must  have  been 
suggested  already,  that  "  evil,"  by  whatever  name 
it  is  called,  is  an  ultimate  necessity  in  a  phenomenal 
world?  It  is  a  necessary  condition  of  the  everlast- 
ing process  by  which  we  live  and  grow.  A  growing 
world  must  contain  the  smaller  and  the  greater,  the 
worse  and  the  better,  the  shadows  as  well  as  the 
substance;  no  monotonous,  uniform  equality  as  of 
standardized  machines.  There  must  be  inevitable 
suffering  in  a  process  where  animals  live  and  infants 
grow  to  maturity. 

Verify  this  In  the  actual  processes  of  child  devel- 
opment. Can  you  have  mature  life  without  child- 
life  first,  with  its  inevitable  feebleness,  pains  and 
restraints?  Would  you  desire  to  enter  upon  man- 
hood without  knowing  the  joys  of  the  child  and  the 
mother's  love?  Who  Is  sorry  to  have  borne  child- 
ish disappointments,  to  have  fallen  down  as  other 
children  fall,  to  have  been  humiliated  and  ashamed 
over  and  over,  to  have  learned  to  love  truth  by  the 
futility  of  falsehood,  to  have  been  frustrated  and 
to  have  grown  more  forceful? 

Choose  again  the  best  fortune  for  your  children. 


134  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

How  much  would  you  spare  them  of  the  cost  of 
growing  up?  Should  the  child  fall  and  not  suffer, 
cut  himself  and  be  made  to  believe  that  there  was  no 
wound,  overeat  and  Indulge  his  appetites  and  never 
have  aches  and  pains?  Should  he  have  no  eager 
desires,  no  real  temptations?  Would  you  have  him 
Inherit  a  fortune?  Would  you  make  him  exempt 
from  the  great  common  lot  of  the  children  about 
him? 

Many  people  suppose  that  the  all-powerful  God 
can  do  anything.  But  Omnipotence  cannot  make  a 
man  without  a  child  to  begin  with.  Omnipotence 
cannot  dispense  In  favor  of  a  single  child,  whether 
the  Christ-child  or  the  Superman,  with  the  Inevitable, 
democratic,  beneficent  law  of  cost  by  which  all  grow- 
ing creatures  must  come  to  their  stature.  Omnip- 
otence cannot  command  a  valley  without  any  hill ! 
This  Is  Irrationality. 

Let  us  then,  as  Emerson  says,  "  worship  "  the  In- 
exorable and  beautiful  necessity.  Let  us  admit  that 
life  at  Its  best  is  worth  a  price  beyond  measure  in 
effort  or  pain.  Our  religion  will  be  all  the  better  for 
combining  a  noble  stoicism  with  It.  Meanwhile  the 
things  that  we  call  evil  fade  and  disappear  like  fogs 
on  the  sea-shore,  when  the  west  wind  brings  the  sun- 
shine rippling  the  waves.  What  cost  is  too  great  to 
give  for  a  share  In  the  things  unseen,  eternal,  spirit- 
ual, most  real,  most  beautiful,  in  which  men,  born 
as  little  children,  grow  up  to  be  heirs  I 


SECTION  III 
THE  VICTORIOUS  GOODNESS 

I 

HOW  TO    HANDLE   EVIL:   THE   IRREPRESSIBLE 
CONFLICT 

We  have  nowhere  denied  that  there  is  evil;  we  do 
not  say  that  a  pain  or  a  sorrow  does  not  exist,  that 
a  disease  is  not  as  real  as  the  bhght  upon  a  wheat 
field.  But  we  have  pointed  out  that  evil  is  only  one 
of  the  various  names  by  which  we  call  one  side  or 
aspect  of  a  great,  necessary  and,  on  the  whole,  bene- 
ficent condition  of  our  lives,  as  finite  growing  beings 
in  a  world  of  things.  Neither  is  this  necessity  that 
brings  pain  or  evil  material;  it  belongs  to  life  and 
growth,  and  finiteness. 

Back  of  the  "  evil "  we  have  nowhere  been  able 
to  find  any  evil  principle.  Not  even  moral  evil  con- 
tains any  actual  mahgnity.  The  wrong-doer  does 
not  love  evil  or  hate  the  good.  The  infantile  rage 
and  impish  face  of  your  child  carry  no  proof  of 
demoniac  possession. 

Are  we  gaining  any  advantage,  however,  by  this 
view?     Of  course  we  are,  if  it  is  true.      But  sup- 

135 


136  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

pose  this  view  prevails,  will  the  world  not  lose  its 
sense  of  the  awfulness  of  sin?  Can  you  safely  leave 
average  man  with  no  fear  of  hell  fire?  What  will 
hold  the  grip  of  our  consciences? 

Our  best  physicians  answer  this  question.  They 
do  not  need  to  add  any  punishment  to  what  their  pa- 
tients suffer  already.  Their  business  is  to  cure  the 
sick.  They  use  confinement,  special  diet,  and  need- 
ful warning  to  the  careless;  they  may  use  the  salu- 
tary knife.  They  thus  direct  and  apply  intelligent 
and  positive  purpose.  But  they  do  not  make  disease 
attractive  or  popular.  Nevertheless,  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  hospital  is  not  fear  but  courage  and 
hope.  The  end  is  health.  We  propose  the  same 
practical  purpose,  the  same  wholesome  means,  the 
same  hopeful  atmosphere.  On  the  practical  side 
this  is  the  doctrine  of  "  the  forgiveness  of  sins." 

Blame  and  guilt,  the  sense  of  sin,  the  wounded 
conscience,  have  one  use  only,  that  the  man,  having 
done  wrong,  may  be  ashamed  and  sorry  enough  to 
resolve  not  to  do  the  wrong  again.  He  is  like  the 
chauffeur  who  has  blundered  into  an  accident.  We 
wish  him  to  see  his  fault  and  be  so  grieved  that  he 
may  never  incur  another  accident.  He  is  unfit  to 
drive  a  car  if  he  remains  careless.  We  are  not  con- 
cerned that  he  shall  suffer  punishment,  but  that  from 
now  on  he  shall  be  a  careful  driver.  This  he  never 
can  be  without  a  better  will,  without  courage  and 
hope,  without  friendly  confidence  too  on  the  part  of 
those  who  employ  him. 

The  larger  part  of  the  wrong  doing  of  the  world 


HOW  TO   HANDLE   EVIL  1 37 

is  not  aggressive.  It  is  the  work  of  dull  and  imma- 
ture minds.  Like  children  at  school,  they  need  the 
steady  play  upon  their  wills  of  courage  and  hope. 
Our  view  of  the  nature  of  moral  evil  therefore 
frankly  involves  a  distinctly  radical  change  in  our 
treatment  of  one  another  when  we  do  wrong. 

Perhaps  the  worst  mischief  in  the  old  view  of 
"  sin  "  was  that  it  drew  a  false  division  among  men. 
There  were  sheep  and  goats,  saints  and  sinners,  the 
bad  and  the  good.  God  "  was  angry  with  the 
wicked  every  day."  But  he  loved  the  righteous, 
that  is,  us  and  our  sect  or  religion.  More  than  half 
of  the  Hebrew  Psalms  contain  mischievous  and  in- 
humane sentences  about  the  separateness  of  the  good 
and  the  evil.  You  make  prigs  and  hypocrites  by 
using  such  material  for  "  devotional  "  purposes. 
Children  and  thoughtless  people  become  infected 
with  the  ugly  temper  of  such  Scripture.  If  God  has 
enemies,  you  find  enemies  too.  You  develop  ill-will, 
contempt,  hatred.  If  God  punishes  relentlessly,  you 
deal  in  the  same  kind  of  treatment.  Punishment  in 
this  view  is  retribution  or  vengeance  to  give  the  evil- 
doer his  deserts.  A  terrible  stream  of  mischief  has 
marked  this  superstition,  that  sin  is  a  malign  princi- 
ple at  endless  war  with  good! 

Our  view  of  moral  evil  grows  out  of  a  new  light 
on  human  life.  We  are  here,  first,  to  grow  and 
work  out  good,  and,  incidentally  to  this,  to  overcome 
evil  or  cure  it.  We  worship  no  despotic  or  igno- 
rant God,  feeble  enough  to  have  enemies.  "  He 
hateth  nothing  that  he  hath  made."     Surely  if  "  to 


138  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

know  all  Is  to  forgive  all,"  then  the  fountain  life  of 
the  world  can  harbor  no  grudge. 

This  view  sets  us  all  on  one  plane.  As  Jesus  says, 
"Why  callest  thou  me  good?  None  Is  good  but 
one;  that  Is,  God."  No  man  Is  Impeccable,  no  one 
outside  of  the  human  fold.  Do  you  wish  or  de- 
serve to  "  sit  on  thrones,"  judging  the  others? 
Who  deserves  such  pre-eminence?  The  best  men 
owe  everything  to  the  Indwelling  and  up-building 
life.  Who  made  the  sound  body,  the  clear  intelli- 
gence, the  discerning  conscience,  the  love  of  beauty, 
the  love  of  truth,  the  love  of  goodness?  There  Is 
no  self-made  man! 

This  social  oneness  in  weal  and  woe,  for  good  and 
evil.  In  pleasure  and  pain,  constitutes  a  bond  which 
makes  us  Inevitable  sharers  In  human  experiences. 
All  human  society  is  Involved  in  every  strike,  in 
every  war.  Do  you  and  I  imagine  that,  if  we  had 
been  brought  up  In  slums,  we  should  have  supposed 
the  laws  and  the  courts  to  have  been  created  for  our 
benefit?  Would  It  have  been  possible  for  us  If  we 
had  been  born  In  Germany  to  show  penitence  In  the 
face  of  our  proud  "  enemies  "  over  the  sins  of  our 
nation?  What  a  coil  of  social  circumstances  breeds 
wrong  and  crime !  The  worst  moral  evil  Is  largely 
the  survival  from  primitive  men  who  never  knew 
how  to  be  rid  of  it.  The  practical  question  is,  what 
to  do  to-day?  If  you  blame  any  one,  who  are  more 
to  blame  than  those  with  power,  virtue,  and  means, 
and  yet  without  sympathy?  Talk  not,  however,  of 
blame,  but  Inspire  us  with  courage  and  hope.     The 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  EVIL  1 39 

worst  man  on  earth  can  become  a  new  creature  the 
moment  he  catches  the  new  social  light  upon  life, 
and  takes  a  willing  hold  In  the  fraternal  effort  to 
overcome  evil.  Men  become  wicked  for  wartt  of 
courage,  hope,  and  will.  Stir  these  men  with  a  good 
will  and  they  escape  the  region  of  evil. 

What  absurd  mystery  people  have  made  of  Jesus' 
teaching:  "  Resist  not  evil"!  It  Is  perfectly  clear 
a  few  sentences  later  In  the  parable  of  the  sun,  for- 
ever shedding  light  on  the  evil  and  the  good.  Be 
ye  each  like  the  sun,  Jesus  says:  be  lights  to  shine; 
mirror  back  In  every  direction  all  the  light  that  falls 
on  you.  Return  not  evil  for  evil,  but  good  to  over- 
whelm evil.  "Overcome  evil?"  Yes.  This  Is 
your  business,  but  overcome  It  with  good.  This 
makes  the  business  of  life  positive,  constructive, 
beautiful.  This  Is  to  put  the  emphasis  where  it  be- 
longs, not  on  the  evil,  the  Incident,  but  on  good,  the 
reality  I 

Men  had  always  taken  the  opposite  way;  namely, 
resist  evil,  fight  it!  This  meant  to  stay  In  Its  com- 
pany, to  fight  it  on  its  own  ground,  and  with  Its  own 
weapons  of  violence  and  destruction.  We  are  re- 
minded of  Xerxes  whipping  the  Hellespont! 

All  sorts  of  interesting  analogies  and  parables  now 
help  us.  See  what  we  do  with  the  problems  of 
physical  nature.  We  actually  transfer  to  our  aid, 
and  make  over  as  allies,  forces  and  materials  that 
we  once  thought  hostile.  Who  thinks  of  fighting 
the  wind?  We  borrow  its  power  to  drive  our  sails. 
We  hold  the  floods  back  to  supply  our  needs  In 


I40  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

drought.  We  drain  the  malarial  marsh  and  turn 
it  into  a  garden.  We  find  new  uses  in  refuse  and 
weeds.  Instead  of  being  impatient  at  opposition, 
we  good-naturedly  bring  well  planned  and  superior 
forces  to  reduce  it.  We  do  not  fight  the  rocks;  we 
bore  through  them,  and  build  highways  of  their 
fragments.  The  very  language  of  early  man's 
struggles  with  nature  becomes  our  metaphor  and 
poetry.  The  word  fight  loses  its  sting  where  no 
malignity  is. 

We  urge  now  the  same  radical  change  of  method 
throughout  the  whole  moral  realm.  This  is  the 
heart  of  our  religion;  it  is  the  demand  of  our  intelli- 
gence; it  is  the  hope  of  humanity,  which  never  be- 
fore had  much  hope,  except  beyond  the  clouds. 

Our  law  is:  "  Overcome  evil  with  good."  Keep 
this  in  mind.  This  principle  works  wonderfully  in 
taming  the  excess  selfishness  in  us.  Do  not  treat  it 
as  an  enemy.  We  cannot  fight  this  excess  or  lop  it 
off  like  an  excrescence.  Translate  it  and  overpass 
it  with  surplus  of  life  —  with  wholesome  energy, 
with  a  generous  aim.  Selfishness  is  a  hindrance,  a 
limitation,  an  extra  weight  of  flesh.  It  grows  upon 
the  idle  and  lazy.  Fill  up  your  life,  then,  with  use- 
ful effort  and  work  the  weight  off. 

You  fear  social  changes  lest  you  and  your  house- 
hold may  come  to  want  or  lose  your  luxuries.  You 
cannot  kill  this  fear  or  starve  it  out.  Turn  the 
other  way:  join  hands  with  others  who  have  real 
reasons  to  fear;  plant  wider  fields;  plan  for  grander 
harvests;  learn  freer  and  better  methods  to  exchange 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  EVIL  14I 

and  share  your  products.  Lo !  as  it  was  In  the  story 
of  "  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves,"  where  every 
one  has  brought  out  his  resources  there  is  more  than 
enough  for  all. 

You  fear  for  the  nation,  for  its  liberties  and  its 
wealth;  other  peoples  will  come  and  rob  you.  The 
old  way  was  to  build  forts,  to  erect  tariff  walls,  to 
fence  in  the  little  nation's  prosperity,  to  keep  ships 
ready  to  fight:  the  nations  stood  thus  in  perpetual 
fear.  Turn  about  now:  take  the  opposite  course; 
overcome  your  ugly  suspicions.  Raze  your  forts; 
let  the  battleships  rust.  Welcome  the  labor  and 
product  of  others;  let  each  contribute  his  share;  pub- 
lish your  secrets;  trust  the  others  as  you  wish  to  be 
trusted.  Is  any  mighty  nation  your  enemy?  No! 
Your  own  fear,  your  suspicion,  your  enmity,  is  the 
enemy.  Tell  all  peoples  your  new  democratic  plan 
for  the  freedom  and  safety  of  the  world.  Believe 
in  it  yourselves;  make  the  enemy  nations  equal 
shareholders  in  it;  draw  the  teeth  of  your  fears. 

Our  worst  enemies  are  within  our  doors.  Envy 
and  jealousy  are  enemies.  They  narrow  our  happi- 
ness. The  other  man  is  more  prosperous;  he  is 
stronger  and  better  educated;  he  has  more  friends. 
The  other  woman  is  more  beautiful  and  has  more 
money  to  spend,  or  uses  meretricious  arts  and  gets 
on,  you  think,  too  well.  Thus  children,  too  dull  and 
weak  to  open  the  gates,  cry  and  kick  against  them. 
Thus  nations  slip  Into  contemptible  quarrels  and 
wars.  You  cannot  fight  jealousy!  Turn  the  other 
way;  put  your  better  nature  to  work.     You  have 


142  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

your  own  life  to  live.  Make  it  worth  while.  You 
are  here  to  make  light  shine,  to  help  the  good  to 
prevail,  to  enhance  the  common  prosperity,  to  carry 
the  good  will  from  thought  and  word  into  deed. 
Be  glad  then  for  every  other  man's  gifts  and  powers. 
The  other  student  is  brighter;  the  other  girl  has 
greater  charm;  the  other  physician  is  more  skilful; 
the  other  merchant  is  richer.  What  of  it?  Your 
school,  your  town,  your  nation  —  the  world,  has  so 
much  more  intellect,  grace,  skill,  means.  Would 
you  restrict  others  to  your  little  capacity?  Take 
care  rather  to  make  your  own  product  larger  and 
more  excellent.  Stop  praying,  "  Thy  Kingdom 
come  "  unless  you  mean  this. 

What  shall  we  do  with  our  quick  anger,  our  sul- 
len resentment,  our  ''  honest  indignation  "  against 
evil-doing?  Keep  what  is  honest.  We  should  not 
be  human  if  we  did  not  suffer  at  seeing  wrong,  at 
hearing  discords  and  falsehood.  But  again,  as  be- 
fore, our  enemy  is  within.  Our  annoyance,  our  ir- 
ritation, our  "  righteous  anger,"  as  we  style  it,  are 
enemies.  We  are  never  annoyed,  irritated,  indig- 
nant, because  we  are  full  of  good  will,  but  rather 
because  we  have  not  good  will  enough.  Our  feel- 
ings are  hurt  at  others'  ingratitude,  not  because  we 
are  generous,  but  because  we  are  narrow  and  little. 
We  seek  to  punish,  before  we  know  how  to  pity. 
The  one  specific  and  certain  prescription  for  us  is  not 
to  give  any  one  else  cause  for  "  righteous  indignation 
against  us."  Is  our  neighbor  useless?  You  and 
I  then  must  be  so  much  more  useful.     Is  he  doing 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  EVIL  143 

harm?  We  must  be  sure,  then,  to  do  good.  Our 
hot  indignation  is  the  mark  of  our  likeness  to  him 
who  has  irritated  us. 

My  irritability  and  angry  heart  are  not  for 
nothing.  Like  raw  material  they  have  the  making 
of  good  in  them.  What  if  I  transform  them  like 
wild  energy  into  so  much  heat  and  light!  I  can  do 
this  with  my  inteUigence.  Good  will  always  does  it; 
sympathy  shows  me  the  way.  Every  case  of  wrong 
doing  is  an  opportunity.  I  am  set  to  help  the 
wrong  doer.  I  am  like  a  messenger  to  light  the 
way;  my  good  will  is  my  torch.  My  arrogance,  my 
vexation,  my  one-sided  sympathy,  my  harsh  judg- 
ment pass  off;  my  life  purpose  to  do  my  part  for 
the  common  good  emerges. 

We  need  to  know  that  we  are  each  worth  while, 
that  no  man  can  ever  be  thrown  quite  out  of  the 
family  of  mankind.  There  is  some  useful  function 
for  him,  if  only  to  stand  patient  at  the  loneliest  out- 
post. The  humblest  man's  good  will  is  precious, 
like  light,  as  long  as  he  lives.  Give  the  worst  man, 
then,  courage  and  hope;  at  least  "save  his  face." 

All  sorts  of  common  experiences  bring  these 
things  home  to  us.  Who  does  not  know  what  it  is 
to  relapse  Into  childish  moods?  Who  cannot  say 
more  or  less  mournfully,  '*  I  have  been  there,"  when 
we  note  moral  disease  in  our  neighbors,  their  petu- 
lance, their  greediness,  their  pride,  their  hardness, 
severity,  and  unsympathy,  passing  so  easily  into 
cruelty  and  oppression,  their  tenacity  of  their  own 


144  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

rights,  becoming  so  often  clear  Injustice !  There 
might  well  be  hospitals  for  people  with  moral  dis- 
eases In  every  township.  Some  friend  should  say  to 
us  on  occasion:  "Take  a  day  off  at  '  the  retreat.' 
You  need  It."  Not  one  class  alone  called  "  crim- 
inal "  needs  this;  most  people  need  on  occasion  to 
be  given  a  rest  for  a  time  from  society. 

Pious  souls  once  began  the  day  In  the  posture  of 
prayer;  they  went  apart  from  time  to  time  to  seek 
the  good  spirit.  Does  not  our  modern  religion  call 
for  something  as  wholesome  as  this?  How  can  we 
best  renew  our  spirits  with  the  master  thoughts  of 
human  life?  Who  does  not  need  often  to  come 
back  for  companionship  with  the  beautiful  purpose 
which  consecrates  life? 

Can  we  overcome  evil  with  good  In  all  cases? 
Take  the  case  of  the  Pharisee.  This  Is  the  hardest 
problem  we  have.  Pharisaism  is  a  chronic  disease 
of  the  soul.  Can  you  touch  it  with  denunciation? 
We  wonder  whether  Jesus  ever  converted  one  Phar- 
isee Into  being  his  disciple.  We  wonder  whether  he 
tried.  He  took  easier  cases :  he  sought  the  lowly, 
the  poor,  the  degraded,  the  obvious  sinners.  He 
never  showed  sympathy  with  the  Pharisees,  or  ad- 
miration for  their  virtues.  In  his  eyes  and  for  his 
Immediate  purpose  they  stood  In  the  way  of  his  mis- 
sion. They  and  he  became  foes.  They  hardened 
their  hearts  against  him.  How  could  he  reach  any 
man  without  showing  sympathy,  understanding, 
good  will? 


HOW  TO   HANDLE   EVIL  145 

The  time  has  come  to  leave  no  man  out  of  the 
scope  of  our  message.  We  must  bring  the  Phari- 
sees to  our  side.  We  must  learn  to  overcome  their 
evil  with  good.  We  must  build  on  the  real  good  in 
them  and  so  with  their  aid  construct  greater  good. 
We  must  let  them  into  our  secret.  We  must  bring 
our  good  will,  not  ill  will,  to  their  aid.  Yes,  to  the 
worst  man,  as  the  best  physician  brings  his  skill  to 
the  most  chronic  cases. 

It  follows  that  the  one  fault  out  of  which  all 
others  grow  is  not  to  have  a  good  will.  I  am  help- 
less without  this,  as  a  man  who  has  no  power  on  in 
his  shop  or  his  car.  Why  am  I  not  now  as  badly 
off  as  any  wrong-doer?  Have  I  ill  will  or  enmity? 
Then  I  am  on  the  level  of  all  other  sick  souls.  No 
man  in  ill  will  is  fit  for  human  society!  You  think 
the  other  party  in  the  quarrel  is  to  blame.  What 
if  you,  with  your  harsh  judgment  and  cruel  will  to 
make  him  suffer,  may  be  the  worse  of  the  two? 
What  are  any  of  us  but  older  or  younger  pupils  in 
the  vast  school  of  life?  No  one  ever  did  the  other 
any  good  unless  the  light  of  a  kindly  humanity  shone 
in  his  eyes. 

Or  do  you  not,  perhaps,  wish  to  help  the  other? 
But  you  wish  to  be  rid  of  him.  Then  indeed  are 
you  his  enemy,  as  much  as  he  is  yours.  Do  you  not 
both  need  to  go  to  the  hospital?  What  is  your 
virtue,  if  you  are  unable  to  see  any  good  in  another 
and  only  wish  him  to  die?  What  inhuman  religion 
has  so  poisoned  your  soul? 

I  hope  that  we  have  met  the  objection  to  our  view 


146  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

of  moral  evil  —  that  it  is  too  gentle ;  that  we  do  not 
make  sin  serious  enough;  that  we  show  complacency 
toward  wrong-doers.  This  is  the  objection  of  the 
"  good  "  or  "  pious,"  as  against  the  "  wicked  "  and 
godless.  The  pious  in  Jesus'  day  raised  the  same 
objection.  He  was  easy  with  publicans  and  sinners; 
he  shook  hands  with  the  vulgar  and  called  ordinary 
fishermen  into  his  society.  But  look  I  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  there  grew  out  of  these  timid,  ordi- 
nary men  a  zeal  for  the  pure  life,  a  loyalty  to  prin- 
ciple, an  ardent  affection,  an  indomitable  will  that 
made  martyrs.  What  can  you  do  better  than  this 
with  your  precious  punishments !  What  do  you  ask 
more  from  any  human  soul  than  the  fruits  of  the 
spirit  —  love,  joy,  patience,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
triumphant  list?  No  courses  of  discipline,  no  pur- 
gatorial restraint,  no  terror  of  hell  can  do  what 
simple  good  will  does  to  change  men  into  friends 
and  comrades.  Indeed,  if  we  ever  must  use  re- 
straints and  discipline,  we  shall  only  succeed  in  case 
our  methods  are  surcharged  with  obvious  good  will. 

Once  in  a  while  the  force  that  kills  evil  has  been 
set  in  motion  on  a  considerable  scale.  Francis  of 
Assisi  thus  found  the  secret  that  the  great  church 
had  forgotten.  Where  he  went  men  forsook  selfish 
ways  and  came  together  as  friends.  Humble  groups 
from  time  to  time  carried  a  similar  message  through 
Europe;  good  priests  told  it  and  lived  by  it,  but 
they  never  were  able  to  cover  the  field  of  practical 
life  or  to  make  much  impression  on  large  popula- 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  EVIL  147 

tions.  The  old  barbarism  dies  hard.  Not  enough 
light  and  love  had  yet  come.  The  old  heresy  that 
might  and  fear  could  alone  keep  the  world  in  re- 
straint weighed  on  men's  souls  and  played  into  the 
hands  of  priestcraft  and  tyranny.  The  Quakers  re- 
newed the  old  message  with  astonishing  results. 
Again  men  and  women,  once  timid,  took  on  a  new 
will  which  nothing  on  earth  could  break  down. 
They  crowded  the  prisons  with  their  heroic  testi- 
mony against  war  and  everything  that  turns  men 
into  enemies.  But  the  old  barbarism  settled  down 
still  like  a  pall  on  the  nations;  men  looked  to  the 
great  churches  and  got  no  enlightenment.  The  her- 
esy of  violence  and  punishment  lay  at  the  heart  of 
what  with  grim  humor  they  called  a  "  gospel."  It 
was  the  gospel  of  a  hating  and  punishing  God. 
Even  Wesley  carried  two  Gods  in  his  Trinity,  one 
who  loved  men,  and  another  who  sent  them  to  hell. 
Is  not  the  world  ready  to  see  that  good  will  alone 
rules,  that  good  will  alone  is  almighty,  that  hate, 
contempt,  enmity  and  the  ill-will  to  punish  slay  hu- 
man life  like  a  plague?  Can  we  not  see  that  what- 
ever treatment  leaves  men  or  nations  in  hatred  leaves 
them  worse  and  more  dangerous? 

The  fact  is,  the  moment  a  human  being  releases 
his  good  will,  the  everlasting  currents  of  the  uni- 
verse are  with  him.  This  is  no  vague  theory.  Try 
it  and  see  for  yourself.  It  works  miracles  to  trans- 
form evil  to  good.  Not  alone  In  early  times  but 
again  and  again  in  every  age  common  men  and 
women  like  Peter  and  James  and  Mary  Magdalene 


148  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

have  blossomed  out  into  indomitable  heroism. 
Men  also  of  sensual  habits,  like  Tolstoy,  have  been 
lifted  to  a  new  level.  No  one  knows  what  hearty 
satisfaction  life  offers,  till  he  learns  to  draw  on 
the  everlasting  sources.  To  love  is  to  live.  Give 
the  body  fulness  of  health  and  you  make  it  immune 
from  disease.  Fill  a  man's  heart  with  good  will 
and  no  evil  can  touch  him. 


II 

THE    NEW    FORCE 

I  HAVE  spoken  of  good  will  as  if  it  were  a  new  force 
just  brought  to  light.  There  is  a  wonderful  analogy 
here  with  the  development  of  the  electric  energy. 
Of  course  electricity  had  always  been  playing  about 
us  in  the  world.  Ages  ago  men  had  seen  its  curious 
action  upon  amber  and  other  materials.  They  had 
observed  it  in  certain  fishes  and  eels.  They  had 
stood  in  awe  of  it  in  storms  of  thunder  and  light- 
ning. But  it  long  went  without  a  name  and  only 
within  the  memory  of  living  men  has  it  been  fairly 
harnessed  as  a  vast  beneficent  power  to  work  for  us 
and  henceforth  to  conserve  human  labor.  Even 
now  we  cannot  pretend  to  know  the  mysterious 
helper;  we  only  know  it  by  what  it  does  and  its 
chameleon  forms.  But  along  with  other  forces 
playing  together  in  human  life,  how  mightily  has  it 
contributed  to  bring  in  a  new  era  for  mankind! 
New  possibilities,  new  hopes,  undreamed  wealth, 
new  economic  conditions,  a  new  freedom  from  the 
old  restraints  of  poverty,  mark  the  electrical  age. 

So,  only  vastly  more  important,  is  the  new  spir- 
itual power.  It  has  always  shone  in  gleams;  it  has 
illuminated  individual  lives.  Long  ago  it  was 
known  under  the  feeble  name  of  meekness.     Famous 

149 


I50  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

conquerors  won  a  greater  fame  by  their  magna- 
nimity and  astonished  their  captives  by  making 
friends  of  them.  Magnanimity  is  good  will. 
Surely  prophets  taught  it,  but  half  accidentally. 
Simple  men  and  women  practiced  it  without  knowing 
how  wonderful  it  is.  Jesus,  a  humble  Galilean,  has 
the  supreme  honor  of  bringing  it  fairly  to  light. 
Even  yet  the  world  waits  painfully  to  see  it  come 
into  general  use.  All  sorts  of  forces,  however,  play 
together  to  mark  its  necessity;  a  new  spirit  must  pre- 
vail in  the  world,  adequate  to  match  man's  mastery 
of  his  newly  acquired  science  and  his  tremendous 
physical  inventions.  No  half-civilized  peoples,  such 
as  those  of  our  modern  nations,  can  carry  on  the 
world  any  longer. 

Few  students  of  religion,  often  curiously  skepti- 
cal about  the  worth  of  their  religion,  have  any  idea 
yet  of  the  revolution  that  will  come  in  human  de- 
velopment, when  mankind  understands  what  good 
will  can  do  to  change  men's  hearts  and  raise  the  tone 
and  volume  of  the  life-forces  within  us.  New  issues 
are  coming  to  the  front,  new  points  of  view, 
new  motives,  new  ventures,  a  new  freedom,  new 
hopes  for  the  millions,  a  new  wealth  of  joy  and  hu- 
manity, such  as  never  could  have  been  before.  Half 
the  evil  of  the  world  has  arisen  from  the  poverty 
and  the  hopelessness  of  masses  and  races  of  men 
still  close  to  the  level  of  the  animals  around  their 
huts  or  slums.  When  once,  in  addition  to  science, 
and  in  co-operation  with  its  infinite  resources  of 
power  and  invention,  linking  together  not  continents 


THE  NEW   FORCE  151 

only  but  hamlet  to  hamlet,  and  household  to  house- 
hold over  the  earth,  the  unused  spiritual  power 
which  makes  men  free  and  whole  and  friendly  and 
happy  shall  really  "  pour  itself  out  on  all  flesh,"  we 
shall  behold  a  world  worth  hoping  for,  working  for, 
living  in,  richer  and  better  than  poets  ever  saw  in 
their  visions.  Who  that  looks  back  over  the  physi- 
cal and  scientific  progress  from  darkness  to  light  in 
the  last  wonderful  century,  can  doubt  what  man 
may  do,  provided  he  now  re-aligns  the  science  of 
manhood  with  his  studies  of  matter  and  force ! 

We  have  barely  begun  to  know  a  principle  or  law 
of  nature  when  we  have  stated  it.  Behind  always 
follow  a  troop  of  hitherto  unseen  implications  and 
inferences.  I  wish  in  this  chapter  merely  to  sug- 
gest some  of  these  new  implications  that  lie  just  be- 
neath the  surface  of  our  spiritual  science  and  bear 
on  our  practical  life.  In  brief,  I  wish  with  the  help 
of  a  new  emphasis  to  show  what  the  good  will  can 
do  and  how  it  acts.  Its  science  is  as  practical  as 
any  other  kind  of  knowledge.  It  works  miracles 
also  as  science  does,  in  the  sense  in  which  a  miracle 
is  a  matter  of  wonder  to  the  mind.  A  watch  or  an 
electric  lantern  is  a  wonder  to  a  savage.  An  aero- 
plane is  still  a  miracle.  The  greatest  wonder  in  the 
universe  is  the  turning  of  evil  into  good.  The  new 
worth  and  beauty  created  from  the  by-products  of 
the  crude  petroleum  is  a  parable  of  this.  The  good 
will  likewise  constructs  beauty  out  of  what  we  call 
evil.  This  is  almost  more  wonderful  than  to  create 
out  of  nothing,  for  it  takes  alien,  ugly  and  odious 


152  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

material,   counted  worse   than  nothing,    and  trans- 
forms it  Into  spiritual  worth  and  value. 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  Illuminating  names 
under  which  evil  passes  Is  limitation.  Whatever 
hampers,  throttles,  starves  life,  is  evil,  as  long  as 
It  lasts.  Now  the  good  will  work  to  remove  limi- 
tations. The  good  will  is  kindly  power,  acting  with 
purpose;  its  purpose  is  construction,  freedom  of 
movement  and  growth,  largeness  of  life.  Wherever 
good  will  Is  at  work  this  is  the  purpose.  Every 
good  man  carries  something  of  this  purpose;  it  Is 
the  measure  of  his  civilization.  We  cannot  con- 
ceive that  any  less  purpose  than  this  exists  and  acts 
at  the  heart  of  the  universe.  Good  will  is  the  most 
constructive  and  beneficent  name  of  God.  There  is 
hardly  a  more  personal  name,  for  we  cannot  con- 
ceive of  Impersonal  purpose. 

Now,  good  will,  removing  limitations  of  all  kinds, 
gives  free  circulation  to  the  upbuilding  life,  as  does 
the  removal  of  abnormal  pressure  on  a  blood  vessel. 
We  mean  by  freedom  our  moral  and  social  freedom. 
This  freedom  is  actual,  practicable,  and  verifiable. 
You  want  the  freedom  of  the  whole  man,  heart  and 
soul  and  mind  and  will  also,  sharing  in  the  nature 
of  God.  He  does  what  he  loves  to  do  and  loves  to 
do  what  Is  best,  and  has  satisfaction  In  It.  To  move 
and  grow  and  use  all  your  powers,  as  if  Infinite  en- 
ergy were  behind  you,  is  substantial  freedom. 
However  you  explain  It,  practically  it  is  all  that  any 
one  wants.  The  movement  of  good  will  in  a  man 
carries  this  sense  of  freedom.     This  Is  a  matter  of 


THE  NEW  FORCE  1 53 

fact  and  experience  quite  beyond  the  need  of  argu- 
ment. Life  at  its  best  is  free,  purposeful,  effective 
motion.  It  can  be  balked  but  never  defeated.  Its 
nature  is  to  turn  obstacles  to  its  own  ends. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  good  will  to  the 
bodily  health  and  the  cure  of  disease?  The  history 
of  religion  has  always  had  a  curious  connection  with 
bodily  states.  The  early  Christianity  came  to  many 
minds  as  a  supernatural  way  to  cure  the  sick.  Every 
fresh  renewal  of  religious  life  has  brought  with  It 
stories  of  marvelous  cure.  In  our  own  time  we  have 
seen  Christian  Science  arise  as  a  new  health  cult  no 
less  than  a  form  of  religion.  Do  not  suppose  that 
there  is  nothing  whatever  but  delusion  behind  this 
fascinating  side  of  religion?  Let  us  use  our  intelli- 
gence not  only  to  reject  the  irrational,  but  also  to 
welcome  whatever  Is  hopefully  true. 

Imagine  the  frequent  case  of  the  man,  sick  In 
body  and  mind,  despondent,  anxious,  self-centred, 
brooding  over  his  symptoms  and  growing  worse. 
Bring  him  good  news,  a  hope,  a  little  courage,  faith 
In  himself  and  faith  in  God;  show  him  in  any  way 
how  to  look  out  on  the  world  at  his  best  and  to  let 
a  good  will  run  In  his  nerves, —  do  you  not  see  how 
this  must  have  an  effect  upon  the  action  of  the  body? 
Hopes,  visions,  truths,  the  renewal  of  will,  do  stir 
the  circulation  of  the  life  of  a  man,  and,  as  John 
Fiske  has  said,  quicken  "  the  rhythm  of  nutrition." 
The  body  only  needs  a  wholesome  tonic  to  raise  the 
suffering  system  and  put  It  in  tune.  The  body  is 
a  vital  engine,  bearing  with  It  a  child  of  the  In- 


154  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

finite  spirit.  There  Is  no  tonic  so  energetic  as  the 
buoyant  and  friendly  good  will.  When  the  sick 
man  says,  like  the  soldier  in  battle,  "  I  will  die  if  I 
must,  but  I  have  a  work  to  do,  and,  please  God,  I 
will  do  my  best  for  it,"  he  is  adding  the  tonic  health 
of  his  spirit  to  set  the  body  free  of  disease.  A 
myriad  witnesses  vouch  that  this  Is  so.  You  never 
know  when  some  spiritual  tonic  may  not  reach  and 
renew  the  ebbing  tide  of  life. 

The  same  principle  applies,  even  in  the  case  of  the 
aged,  or  with  hopeless  illness.  Evidently  no  kind 
of  medicine  can  always  hold  death  at  bay.  But 
there  Is  no  age  limit  to  the  growth  of  the  affections, 
of  the  faith,  of  the  will,  engaged  to  do  a  man's  part 
as  long  as  life  lasts.  There  Is  no  limit  to  the  satis- 
faction of  a  mind  at  peace  within  and  fearless  of 
evil.  The  body  fails,  but  the  man,  sustained  by  the 
inner  and  undying  life  of  the  spirit,  keeps  his  face 
to  the  front.  The  flow  of  good  will  is  still  a  liber- 
ating force. 

Every  step  upward  in  the  normal  growth  of  a 
child  is  the  working  of  the  good  will,  casting  off 
shackles  and  hindrances  to  achieve  freedom.  Noth- 
ing can  be  called  education  that  does  not  relieve 
the  mind  of  its  childish  limitations.  The  child  starts 
in  bondage  to  prejudices,  to  traditions,  to  a  narrow 
patriotism,  to  hurtful  habits,  to  an  egotistic  will. 
He  is  apt  to  see  freedom  where  It  cannot  be.  He 
desires  to  do  as  he  pleases,  as  If  the  entanglement 
of  a  load  of  petty  and  frivolous  personal  indulgen- 
ces were  freedom !     He  sees  In  school  and  work,  in 


THE  NEW  FORCE  155 

rules  and  laws,  In  social  duties  and  obligations,  a 
world  of  restraints.  Restraints  these  will  be,  If  he 
fails  to  see  what  they  mean,  and  undertakes  them 
as  a  slave  or  a  hireling.  But  give  him  the  liberating 
sense  of  their  manifold  uses  and  his  own  part  as  a 
sharer  in  them,  let  him  accept  them,  as  they  come, 
with  a  good  social  will,  and  presently  he  becomes  a 
master  of  life.  Duties  and  obligations,  to  obey 
regulations,  to  keep  promises,  to  pay  one's  debts,  to 
render  his  full  tale  of  work,  become  so  many  means 
to  fulfill  the  co-operative  enterprises  of  a  friendly 
household,  of  a  kindly  nelghborhod,  of  a  just  city 
or  State,  of  a  comradeship  of  all  peoples.  Every 
selfish  Indulgence  cripples,  but  the  motion  of  a  good 
will  enfranchises. 

As  the  life  of  the  body  depends  upon  the  free 
circulation,  with  which  disease  interferes,  so  the  life 
of  human  society  depends  upon  free  circulation, 
through  utterance,  expression,  sympathy,  good  will, 
between  Its  Individual  members.  It  is  not  the  worst 
mischief  in  a  moral  ailment  that  it  spoils  or  checks 
the  growth  of  the  man  himself;  the  man's  ailment 
reacts  upon  society  around  him,  and  breaks  Its  free 
circulation.  Good  society,  that  Is,  civilization, 
wants  individuals  sound  through  and  through. 
There  cannot  be  anywhere  a  single  atom,  cut  of?  in 
its  free  flow  from  the  rest,  or  Infecting  the  others 
with  Its  own  selfish  malady,  without  a  continual  loss 
and  privation  that  may  be  felt  on  the  other  side  of 
the  earth.  There  are  those  who  ceaselessly  con- 
tribute, hardly  conscious  of  the  fact  themselves,  to 


156  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  happy,  normal  circulation  of  "  give  and  take,"  of 
easy  healthful  Intercourse  and  companionship,  which 
bind  the  parts  of  the  social  body  into  amity  and 
power.  This  is  the  gift  of  the  "  man  of  the  world  " 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  term.  He  is  one  to  whom  it 
is  truly  said,  *'  All  things  are  yours."  He  acquires 
the  character  of  the  citizen  of  the  universe,  who 
finds  himself  everywhere  at  home.  It  is  open  to 
any  one  to  acquire  this  social  gift;  it  only  depends 
upon  the  volume  and  quality  of  the  humanity  or 
good  will  that  has  free  flow  through  him  and  out- 
ward to  all  men.  What  material  contribution  that 
man  can  make  for  his  fellows  is  so  great  or  needful 
as  this  quickening  of  the  circulating  life  of  the  spirit? 
Where  plenty  of  good  will  flows  you  do  not  have 
to  stand  off  and  fight  social  diseases  with  violence. 
The  active  good  will  dissolves  evil  as  the  strong 
wind  sweeps  over  the  continent  and  disperses  the 
storms.  Take  the  list  of  the  master  evils  of  hu- 
man society  —  pride,  hate,  anger,  covetousness, 
envy,  fear,  jealousy.  The  very  names  call  up  Im- 
ages of  gloomy  walls,  custom  houses,  forts,  locked 
doors,  secret  stairs.  Isolation,  loneliness,  anxious, 
worried  faces,  frightened  populations,  blazing  In- 
surrection and  mob  violence.  Such  things  happen 
whenever  the  stream  of  normal  intercourse,  arising 
out  of  cheerful  and  trusting  good  will,  is  cut  off  be- 
tween the  members  of  society,  between  nations,  be- 
tween classes,  between  the  brain  workers  and  the 
hand  workers,  between  teachers  and  their  youth,  be- 
tween neighbors  In  the  tiniest  village.     Every  or- 


THE  NEW   FORCE  1 57 

ganlzatlon  or  form  of  society  that  proves  to  hamper 
this  full  and  free  circulation  of  friendly  life  must 
disappear. 

Men  who  ought  to  know  better,  even  university 
men,  are  so  foolish  as  to  try  to  make  excuses  for 
themselves  In  behalf  of  their  pride  or  anger  or  im- 
patience or  distrust  or  jealousy.  Our  Indignation 
is  just,  they  say.  The  others  do  not  deserve  to  be 
trusted.  The  multitude  are  too  ignorant  to  be  re- 
spected. The  only  language  which  certain  people 
understand  Is  brute  force.  '*  The  only  good  Indian 
is  a  dead  Indian."  Our  laborers  are  always  unrea- 
sonable. The  democracy  is  not  fit  to  rule.  Such 
things  as  these  may  be  heard  every  day  In  clubs  and 
Pullman  cars  and  parlors.  They  are  never  said 
with  friendly  faces;  they  are  not  said  out  of  open 
minds.  Doubtless  they  can  be  matched,  perhaps 
with  rougher  phrases,  but  hardly  with  more  bitter 
tones,  by  angry  men  at  lunch  counters  or  In  meetings 
at  street  corners. 

Men  talk  of  checking  and  restraining  social  mala- 
dies by  force  of  laws  and  closer  public  regulations, 
as  they  talk  of  keeping  the  peace  of  the  world  by 
an  armed  League,  ''  policing  the  seas  "  with  war- 
shl'ps.  As  If  you  could  fight  an  evil  spirit  with  gun- 
powder! As  if  you  could  overcome  pride  by  vio- 
lence; as  If  you  could  compel  social  health  by  cre- 
ating new  fear ! 

The  social  maladies  are  all  one  malady,  and  that 
malady  Is  negative  rather  than  real  and  positive. 
It  arises  out  of  the  want  of  sound  social  life  — 


158  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  stoppage  of  the  circulation  of  the  normal  life 
of  good  will.  Stupid  society  has  made  a  fashion  of 
doubt,  of  suspicion,  of  distrust.  Change  the  bad 
fashion  for  a  better.  Make  a  habit  of  a  kindly 
manner,  of  courage,  of  cheerfulness,  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  good  to  be  found  in  the  world.  Was 
ever  anything  gained  by  discovering  and  retailing 
evil?  Watch  the  effect.  Wherever  good  will  is  at 
work,  the  demons  of  the  darkness  disappear.  The 
good  will  liberates  our  souls  and  lets  us  out  into  the 
open.  Live  in  good  will,  and  you  have  entered  a 
mighty  alliance,  with  the  universe  on  your  side. 
Friends  rise  up  everywhere  to  greet  you.  Locked 
doors  are  thrown  open.  What  if  you  have  fewer 
dollars  to  your  credit  on  the  assessor's  books,  pro- 
vided you  can  look  any  man  in  the  world  in  the  face, 
as  one  who  holds  and  seeks  nothing  with  covetous 
eyes! 

I  urge  nothing  that  is  not  upheld  by  the  facts. 
Skillful  administrators  who  have  tried  what  good 
will  does  with  wild  tribes  on  the  prairies  or  with 
savage  Moros,  explorers  who  have  threaded  their 
way  through  the  desert,  a  new  school  of  pioneers 
in  industrial  democracy,  a  gallant  group  of  success- 
ful experimenters  with  human  nature  in  city  police 
courts  and  with  prisons,  a  host  of  modern  teachers 
and  parents,  are  ready  to  give  their  overwhelming 
testimony  to  the  power  of  good  will,  as  the  social 
life  force  to  cure  and  dissolve  the  evil  in  men. 
Everything  else  fails,  because  everything  else  acts 
like  a  drug  to  create  ailment,  not  to  cure  it.     The 


THE  NEW  FORCE  159 

good  will  brings  free  circulation  of  spiritual  life,  and 
every  one  can  do  something  to  make  this  free  life- 
flow  prevail.  Helping  to  free  and  heal  society,  he 
frees  and  saves  himself. 

I  trust  that  I  have  made  my  point  clear,  that  the 
good  will  is  no  more  our  ov/n  creation  than  is  the 
electric  energy.  We  learn  to  turn  it  on  and  use  it. 
It  is  one  of  the  "  powers  not  ourselves,"  as  righteous- 
ness is,  as  beauty  is.  The  gift  of  God  —  we  use  it 
as  we  use  life  itself.  No  pride  or  egotism,  but  a 
restful  and  inspiring  satisfaction  grows  out  of  this 
fact.  It  is  indeed  a  sort  of  witness  of  the  presence 
of  God. 


Ill 

THE    HERESIES    THAT    HURT   MEN 

The  only  dreadful  heresies  are  such  as  undermine 
our  humanity  and  our  spiritual  life.  They  are  not 
mere  differences  of  opinion:  they  touch  human  con- 
duct, and  they  are  apt  to  be  extremely  popular  and 
even  "  fashionable." 

Every  fresh  generation  of  mankind  inherits,  and 
is  obliged  to  carry  upon  its  back,  a  considerable 
load  of  the  ideas  and  prejudices  of  its  forefathers. 
No  one  knows  how  much  of  himself,  so  far  from 
being  his  own  self,  is  the  transmission  of  a  long  line 
of  more  or  less  barbarous  ancestors.  The  worst 
errors  thus  come  to  us  from  a  time  when  man  was 
hardly  conscious  of  possessing  a  spiritual  nature. 
We  put  aside  the  so-called  theological  heresies. 
Did  the  holding  of  any  of  them,  about  ''  the  Trin- 
ity," for  instance,  tend  to  make  a  man  worse  — 
cruel  or  untruthful  or  dishonorable?  Let  me  name 
certain  errors  which  do  have  the  effect  of  lowering 
our  humanity  and  making  men  worse.  We  might 
call  them  the  unsocial  heresies,  because  they  alienate 
men  from  each  other  and  create  enmity. 

One  set  of  these  heresies  concerns  men's  thought 
of  what  life  Is.  Thus,  men  think  that  success  in  life 
consists  In  getting  all  that  we  can.     They  mean  get- 

i6o 


THE  HERESIES  THAT  HURT  MEN         l6l 

ting  things f  money  and  what  money  will  buy.  They 
say  that  "  every  man  has  his  price,"  and  that  "  a 
man  will  give  all  that  he  hath  for  his  hfe."  They 
mean  that  men  are  essentially  selfish.  When  they 
say  these  things  they  are  thinking  of  the  animal  or 
physical  man,  who  is  not  really  a  man.  What  they 
say  is  not  true  of  a  real  and  whole  man.  It  is 
hardly  true  of  a  dog.  We  are  poor  indeed  if  we 
do  not  know  men  who  are  beyond  being  bought  at 
any  price.  President  Wilson  has  been  affirming 
that  our  nation  went  to  war  for  its  ideals !  If  this 
is  ten  per  cent,  true,  it  confutes  the  heresy  that  life 
consists  in  the  things  that  you  can  get,  and  that  men 
are  altogether  selfish. 

Another  group  of  heresies  touches  men's  ideas 
about  force.  It  is  the  fashion  to  say  that  what 
wins,  and  always  must  win  in  the  end,  is  superior 
physical  or  mechanical  force.  War  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  the  appeal  to  this  force.  The  tinge 
of  international  law'  in  it  in  no  wise  changes  its 
character.  It  is  said  that  all  government,  from 
that  of  the  home  to  a  League  of  Nations,  rests  at 
last  on  superior  force.  Every  election  in  a  democ- 
racy is  thus  an  appeal  to  the  strength  of  greater 
numbers,  or  the  greater  wealth  that  controls  num- 
bers. It  is  claimed  that  civilization  would  go  to 
wreck  unless  the  civilized  nations  held  force  enough 
to  overpower  one  another ! 

The  error  here  starts  from  a  false  idea  about  man 
and  the  nature  of  his  humanness.  On  our  physical 
side,   compared  with  the  animals,  we  are  pitifully 


1 62  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

feeble.  But  our  intelligence,  a  purely  spiritual  fac- 
ulty, sets  us  at  the  head  of  creation.  As  soon  as 
the  man  steps  forth  a  full  man,  the  spiritual  powers 
in  him,  mind,  idealism,  faith,  loyalty,  sympathy,  con- 
stitute his  distinction  from  the  animal.  All  the 
powers  of  the  universe  culminate  in  the  man  of  good 
will,  heart,  soul,  mind,  strength,  vision,  love,  acting 
together.  This  is  not  the  force  that  men  talk  about 
when  they  say  that  government  and  civilization 
rest  upon  force.  The  force  that  constitutes  a  civil- 
ized man  is  spirit,  or  will,  akin  to  the  force  that 
rules  the  universe.  Let  a  man  once  assimilate  this 
fact  and  he  will  never  again  think  that  the  ordeal 
of  battle,  long  since  rejected  in  every  decent  relation 
between  men,  is  nevertheless  needed  to  support  the 
cause  of  civilization!  In  fact  the  glorious  history 
of  civilization  is  the  process  by  which  every  imperial- 
istic scheme  that  rests  upon  mere  might  goes  to  de- 
struction, and  "  the  weak  things  of  the  world  "  prove 
to  be  those  chosen  to  "  confound  the  things  which 
are  mighty." 

The  worst  of  the  heresies  about  force  are  those 
which  men  practice  under  the  head  of  government, 
and  even  of  popular  government,  in  their  treatment 
of  one  another,  and  especially  of  the  weaker  mem- 
bers of  society  and  of  backward  peoples.  The  great 
war  was  a  revelation  of  the  subtle  and  poisonous 
working  of  the  old  idea  that  "  might  makes  right." 
When  the  war-lords  say  this,  the  "  free  nations  " 
hate  it.  But  what  do  the  same  free  nations  say? 
They  say,  *'  Necessity  knows  no  law."     Do  the  Ger- 


THE  HERESIES  THAT  HURT  MEN         163 

mans  use  cruel  or  immoral  means  ?  The  Allies  pres- 
ently use  the  same  means.  They  thus  justify  their 
enemies,  who  held  that  their  cause  was  right  —  yes, 
necessary  "  for  the  good  of  the  world  " !  Distin- 
guished Germans  have  said  this.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
Germans  the  Allied  Nations,  starving  them  to  death, 
looked  much  the  same  as  Bolshevists  presently 
looked  to  the  Allies. 

The  Allies  professed  to  carry  on  war  for  human- 
ity, and  to  save  civilization,  as  if  they  possessed  it 
themselves!  They  proceeded  to  assume  arbitrary 
power;  they  stamped  out  free  discussion;  they  en- 
forced their  will,  exactly  as  a  tyrant  does,  upon  those 
who  did  not  believe  in  the  righteousness  of  their 
superior  force;  their  greater  numbers,  their  physical 
necessity  made  new  crimes;  they  secured  authority 
for  universal  conscription  and  snatched  free  men, 
much  as  in  the  days  of  the  press-gang,  away  from 
their  work  and  their  homes  and  compelled  them  to 
go  over  seas  to  kill  men  like  themselves,  knowing 
as  little  as  they  did  what  the  war  was  about;  they 
exercised  tortures  to  break  the  wills  of  those  whose 
respect  for  humanity  forbade  them  to  put  men  to 
death;  they  filled  their  jails  with  political  prisoners, 
men  or  women.  Was  not  this  to  say  what  Germany 
had  said,  that  might  is  right,  that  necessity  knows 
no  law,  that  the  Government  is  absolute  over  the 
individual  —  the  same  old  heresy,  pleasing  to  mon- 
archs  in  the  time  of  our  forefathers,  whose  repudia- 
tion of  it  drove  them  here  into  exile? 

Great  good  may  come  out  of  all  this  mischief. 


1 64  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

What  if  it  serves  to  awaken  the  world  to  see  and  put 
away  our  current  system  of  punishments  and  to  re- 
form our  criminal  law  I  What  is  punishment,  in  the 
usual  sense  of  the  word,  but  another  form  of  the 
heresy  about  the  righteousness  of  power  and  might 
and  necessity?  The  father,  the  teacher,  the  judge, 
the  court  martial,  or  the  State,  having  power,  has 
therefore  the  right  to  punish  disobedient  subjects,  a 
child,  a  citizen,  or  a  stranger.  Does  this  right  come 
down  from  heaven?  Who  has  the  right  to  vest  it 
in  a  king?  Does  a  majority  of  voters  possess  it? 
What  is  this  action  of  punishment?  It  is  designed 
to  inflict  suffering  and  disgrace;  it  may  be,  to  isolate 
the  victim  from  the  society  of  mankind;  in  most 
States,  it  goes  so  far  on  occasion  as  to  take  the  life 
of  the  victim.  Is  this  to  do  anything  humanly  use- 
ful? Is  it  to  insure  the  making  of  better  members 
of  society?  On  the  contrary,  it  is  generally  ad- 
mitted to  result  in  often  irremediable  injury  to  the 
individual  and  therefore  to  the  body  of  society. 

It  is  supposed  that  this  right  to  inflict  punish- 
ment upon  a  brother  man  is  the  right  of  the  superior 
over  an  assumed  inferior.  The  parent  is  older  or 
wiser.  The  teacher  or  the  judge  derives  his  right 
from  the  State;  but  the  State  is  only  a  name  for  all 
of  us,  the  citizens,  acting  so  far  as  we  may  in  the 
interest  of  all.  What  then  if  punishment  proves  no 
longer  to  be  in  the  common  interest?  Who  are  we, 
fellow  citizens,  to  assume  in  our  corporate  capacity 
a  superior  station  as  the  more  civilized  and  righteous, 


THE  HERESIES  THAT   HURT  MEN         165 

and  to  condemn  the  disobedient  as  wicked  Inferiors? 
The  story  of  Jesus  and  the  woman  taken  In  adultery 
holds  the  human  nature  of  such  cases  In  a  nutshell. 
Who  am  I,  the  parent,  that  I  should  take  upon  me 
to  hurt,  to  strike,  to  humiliate,  to  excommunicate  my 
child  In  order  to  satisfy  my  grown-up  sense  of  his 
offense  and  his  deserts?  The  one  thing  to  do.  If  I 
love  the  child  and  hold  his  spiritual  nature  precious. 
Is  to  help  bring  him  back  Into  the  family  fellowship. 
Has  he  disgraced  himself?  This  is  for  him  to  dis- 
cover; It  Is  for  me  to  help  him  find  It  out.  Does  he 
need  treatment  designed  to  re-enforce  a  better  will? 
This  Is  for  us  together  to  work  out,  as  If  he  were 
sick,  requiring  special  diet  or  medicine  or  temporary 
restraint.  As  we  parents  consider  the  nature  of 
the  child.  Its  weaknesses.  Its  Hmltatlons,  Its  eager 
appetites  and  desires,  and  then  also  Its  priceless 
capacities,  Its  dormant  spiritual  possibilities,  the 
manhood  or  womanhood  that  Is  yet  to  bud  forth, 
why  does  not  such  a  vision  of  the  reality  and  sacred- 
ness  of  life  possess  our  souls  as  to  make  It  Impossible 
for  us  to  deal  out  punishment  to  him?  ^ 

The  way  of  escape  from  our  barbarous  heresies 

1  Of  course  we  recognize  that  a  very  young  child,  before  the 
intelligence  and  the  conscience  have  awakened,  dwells  in  the  ani- 
mal world  and  not  yet  in  the  human.  Even  so,  we  know  no  better 
method  in  our  treatment  than  the  application  of  the  Golden  Rule. 
How  should  we  wish  to  be  treated,  guided  and  restrained,  putting 
ourselves  in  the  young  child's  place?  The  wise  and  tender  mother 
actually  follows  this  rule.  She  never  forgets  that  the  little  child 
is  on  his  way  up  to  heirship  in  the  same  spiritual  life  with  her- 
self and  with  the  heroes  and  masters.  Her  opportunity  is  to  de- 
liver him  as  soon  as  may  be  into  that  self-determination  which  be- 
longs of  right  to  men  and  nations. 


i66  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

about  men  and  nations  Is  the  same  as  In  the  case  of 
our  children.  It  Is  to  see  ourselves  somewhat  as 
others  see  us;  it  Is  to  think  of  others  as  we  like  to 
have  them  think  of  us;  it  Is  to  respect  men  as  human 
like  ourselves;  It  Is  to  treat  them  always  as  men;  It 
is  to  expect  their  best  and  so  to  help  them  to  realize 
their  best.  Here  is  the  saving  truth  to  alter  our 
entire  system  of  criminal  jurisprudence,  to  put  away 
all  thought  of  "  enforcing  "  justice  or  peace,  or  of 
giving  men  "  their  deserts,"  and  to  fill  our  souls  with 
a  wholesome  pity  for  the  wayward,  abnormal  and 
feeble-minded  people  whom  we  have  either  neglected 
or  thrust  into  prison.  As  for  punishing  whole 
nations,  God  send  the  dull  world  prophets  of  truth 
to  show  us  that  the  laying  of  penalties  on  a  sister 
nation,  the  seeking  to  disgrace  and  humble  it,  the 
blackening  its  character  and  "  ringing  it  around  " 
with  distrust  and  enmity,  only  Inflames  the  same 
worse  side  In  ourselves  that  we  deem  so  hateful  in 
others  I  We  are  all  pretty  much  the  same,  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  Christians  and  Buddhists,  blacks  or 
whites,  when  we  put  our  humanity  away  from  us. 

Let  us  pay  our  respects  next  to  certain  familiar 
heresies  which  linger  In  the  murky  realm  of  casuistry 
and  have  great  staying  power.  The  most  common 
of  these  Is  that  we  may  "  do  evil  that  good  may 
come."  I  state  this  rather  too  baldly.  Satan  does 
not  generally  come  so  openly  as  he  appears  In  the 
story  of  Jesus'  temptations.  What  chance  would 
the  enemy  have  to  get  into  the  citadel  if  he  came  in 


THE   HERESIES  THAT   HURT  MEN  167 

war  paint?  The  tiny  modicum  of  evil  is  well  sugar- 
coated  for  us.  The  idea  is,  that  provided  we  do  a 
very  small  evil  we  shall  draw  a  great  prize  of  good. 
Thus,  as  the  story  went,  Jesus  should  have  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth  for  one  httle  act  of  untruth. 
What  good  he  then  could  do!  Why  should  he  set 
up  the  barrier  of  his  conscience  against  such  a  quick 
way  of  saving  all  mankind?  Did  he  not  in  fact 
make  a  mistake  in  his  choice?  With  Satan's  way 
open  for  him,  he  could  have  had  the  armies  of  the 
world  to  make  and  enforce  peace !  What  harm  was 
there  in  making  your  best  bow  just  once  to  Satan? 
The  tempter  appealed  to  our  spiritual  chivalry;  let 
your  soul  go  to  damnation,  he  said,  to  win  the  war 
for  democracy.  Be  false  that  truth  may  prevail; 
do  injustice  that  justice  may  triumph;  kill  that  the 
world  may  learn  how  to  forgive ! 

Try  now  another  quite  plausible  form  of  our 
maxim,  thus:  "  The  end  justifies  the  means."  We 
call  this  the  Doctrine  of  Expediency.  When  we 
used  to  be  told  that  the  Jesuits  taught  this,  wie 
hated  it.  But  is  it  not  exactly  what  all  ChristendQm 
has  been  doing?  To  accomplish  a  certaii)  ^i?d-|Tr,th|e 
saving  of  our  precious  civilization  —  v^e  took  a  hor- 
rible means.  Why  then  were  not  the  Jesuits  irightt? 
The  end  justified  the  means;  therefore  men'TVene 
forced  to  fight,  and  pacifists  whp- protested  against 
the  means  must  be  rigorously'piunished..;  Submarine 
warfare  and  the  bombing •  of j  cities  wfere  wrong,  but 
when  the  enemy  thought  his  endi  juJstified  the  means, 
we  too  took  up  the  Slime;  »ct^  I  arid  tb«  .$.ame  exCU9e«. 


1 68  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

How  plausible  It  all  was!     Yes,  without  a  certain 
guiding  principle,  it  was  inevitable. 

This  introduces  us  to  another  of  the  errors  that 
hurt  men;  namely:  Between  two  evils  choose  the 
lesser.  Certainly,  we  all  say,  if  we  are  dealing  with 
things.  If  it  is  a  question  of  losing  one's  limbs  or 
losing  one's  life,  one  submits  to  an  operation.  Even 
so  the  choice  is  apt  to  be  made  in  the  dark!  What 
do  we  know  as  to  which  of  various  evils  is  the  least? 
In  the  realm  of  the  spirit,  however,  in  all  matters 
touching  our  humanity,  no  such  rule  exists.  Face 
the  issue  squarely !  What  is  evil  in  the  moral,  social, 
spiritual  conduct?  It  is  whatever  hurts  our  human- 
ity, whatever  lowers  the  standard  of  truth,  justice, 
or  mercy  in  ourselves  or  In  others,  whatever  lessens 
the  good  will.  The  rule  here  is  to  do  no  evil.  To 
do  evil  in  the  realm  of  our  humanity  Is  to  give  and 
take  poison.  There  is  nothing  commensurate  be- 
tween losing  money  or  losing  a  limb  or  suffering 
pain,  and  losing  spiritual  life,  in  becoming  a  worse 
man,  in  assisting  others  to  become  worse  rather  than 
better.  You  tell  me,  that  between  the  little  false- 
hood and  the  loss  of  my  salary  and  the  suffering  of 
my  family,  I  should  choose  the  former.  I  answer 
that  I  do  the  worse  wrong  even  to  my  family  if  I 
fail  to  play  the  part  of  a  man.  What  do  I  know 
about  the  consequences  of  losing  my  salary,  or 
whether  the  loss  will  really  be  evil?  I  do  know 
that  the  falsehood  will  do  spiritual  harm  for  every 
one  with  whom  I  am  set  to  make  this  a  better  world. 
Shall  I  think  so  ill  of  my  wife  and  children  as  to 


THE   HERESIES  THAT   HURT  MEN  1 69 

suppose  that  they  will  thank  me  for  doing  a  wrong? 
But  how  is  It  when  you  have  to  choose  between  a 
bad  candidate  of  your  own  party  —  the  good  party 
—  and  a  respectable  candidate  of  the  bad  party? 
Who  can  tell  me  which  will  be  the  worse  choice? 
I  shall  do  evil  in  either  case.  If  I  encourage  an 
unfit  candidate  to  "  bank  on  "  the  regular  vote  of 
his  reputable  party,  I  shall  do  evil.  I  shall  do  the 
same  kind  of  evil,  if  I  encourage  an  unscrupulous 
party  to  expect  to  purchase  votes  by  putting  up  re- 
spectable candidates.  Why  must  I  choose  at  all  In 
this  case,  and  not  rather  protest,  so  far  as  I  can, 
against  political  methods  which  debase  our  politics 
and  defeat  the  interests  of  the  people?  Are  we  not 
set  here,  as  if  by  the  Captain  of  our  souls,  to  stand 
true  to  our  convictions  in  every  issue?  Does  not 
this  mean  never  knowingly  to  go  with  the  multitude 
to  do  any  evil,  least  of  all  to  gamble  with  evil 
choices,  as  If  we  could  ever  foretell  their  issue  I 
Why  is  the  little  rivet  placed  in  the  structure  of  the 
bridge  except  to  hold  firm? 

What  shall  we  say  now  to  those  who  are  always 
telling  us  that  our  principles  are  excellent  but  that 
*'  the  time  is  not  ripe  for  them  "?  They  admit  that 
the  world  needs  the  Golden  Rule  more  than  any- 
thing else;  but  they  go  on  to  remark  that  the  world 
doubtless  is  not  ready  for  it.  They  hate  war,  they 
Insist,  as  much  as  any  one,  but  is  not  war  still  some- 
times necessary?  Wait,  they  say,  till  we  have  made 
the  world  safe  for  the  Idealists  to  live  In!     Wait, 


170  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

before  you  use  your  principles,  till  all  have  adopted 
them.  Perhaps  this  Is  the  most  demoralizing  and 
popular  of  all  the  heresies  that  the  world  listens  to. 
You  will  find  it  dozing  away  in  all  the  comfortable 
chairs  of  the  palaces,  the  counting  houses,  the  gov- 
ernment offices,  the  pews,  and  the  pulpits.  What 
does  It  mean?  It  means  that  men  do  not  practically 
take  this  to  be  a  spiritual  universe;  that  they  do  not 
realize  themselves  as  spiritual,  human,  social  beings; 
that  they  have  no  profound  convictions;  that  they 
do  not  believe  In  reality.  It  works  out  to  mean 
falsity,  dishonor,  cowardice,  the  betrayal  on  week- 
days of  the  very  Ideals  which  men  enthrone  on  Sun- 
days. What  can  they  do  more  damaging  than  to 
say  in  effect  that  the  Golden  Rule  will  not  work? 
Why  teach  It  In  the  Sunday  School  then?  If  men 
and  women  cannot  make  it  work,  who  were  brought 
up  to  recite  and  profess  It,  who  can  make  It  work? 
Have  they  honestly  tried  to  make  it  work?  In  what 
new  field  of  human  Interest  or  sympathy  have  they 
ever  practiced  with  It  and  found  it  to  fail?  Has  it 
ever  failed  in  the  family?  In  their  friendships? 
Where  has  It  ever  failed  In  business,  in  treating 
workmen,  In  solving  social  questions?  Has  not  each 
slight  approach  toward  it,  even  In  dealing  with 
nations,  brought  in  a  harvest  of  thankfulness? 

Men  say,  We  will  be  honest  when  the  others  are 
honest;  we  will  tell  the  truth  when  all  tell  the  truth; 
we  will  stop  war  when  the  wicked  nations  stop. 
How  mean!  How  disgraceful!  Do  you  wish  the 
others  to  be  honest,  to  tell  the  truth,  to  put  an  end 


THE  HERESIES  THAT  HURT  MEN         171 

to  fighting?  Why  then  do  not  you,  the  superior 
people,  the  more  highly  civilized,  the  more  "  Chris- 
tian," yourselves  do  those  things  which  you  wish 
to  see  prevail?  How  else  will  they  prevail?  How 
do  you  know  that  you  are  superior  to  others?  How 
can  you  know,  unless  you  use  your  strength,  your 
intelligence,  your  conscience,  your  will?  Why  not 
try  out  your  principles  and  see  how  splendid  they 
are? 

"  Let  us  be  practical,"  men  reply,  as  if  there  were 
two  worlds,  one  practical  and  the  other  Ideal,  and 
two  kinds  of  men  accordingly !  Are  these  practical 
men  happy  with  their  practical  world?  Have  they 
shown  any  superior  wisdom  with  their  old  saws 
about  the  ''safe"  and  "expedient"?  Why,  this 
material  world  thrusts  them  all  aside,  and  is  ready 
almost  to  worship  a  man,  who  from  the  high  pulpit 
of  a  great  office  has  been  preaching  a  few  Ideals  — 
what  ought  to  be  —  about  a  possible  civilized  world- 
order.  Would  to  God  that  this  man's  admirable 
mind  had  not  already  been  filled  so  long  with  the 
old-world  heresies  as  to  take  away  his  capacity  to  do 
what  he  preached  I  Alas,  he  too  had  taken  the 
magic  "  dope,"  that  "  the  time  was  not  ripe  "  to  "  do 
justice,  to  show  mercy,  to  walk  humbly  before  God  "  I 

"What  would  you  have  done?"  men  reply. 
"  Was  not  war  Inevitable  for  us,  when  once  the  Ger- 
mans had  sunk  our  ships?  "  But  the  great  war  did 
not  begin  with  the  Germans.  It  had  many  begin- 
nings. It  began  for  us  when  the  United  States 
fought  a  needless  war  with  Spain.     It  was  Karma 


172  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

when  we  took  upon  ourselves  the  role  of  an  Imperial- 
ist State  in  the  Philippine  Islands;  it  was  accumu- 
lated destiny  with  every  new  battleship  that  we  built. 
These  things  were  preparations  for  war,  not  for  the 
peace  of  the  world.  They  each  and  all  set  up  vibra- 
tions in  the  minds  of  every  German  militarist  and 
lowered  the  moral  tone  of  every  one  who  had  ac- 
cepted their  supposed  necessity.  How  else  could 
they  work  but  In  the  way  of  distrust,  fear,  suspicion, 
inhumanity?  Not  thus  are  made  the  approaches  of 
peace.  Peace  is  costly;  It  means  sympathy,  gener- 
osity, modesty;  it  knows  how  to  forgive;  above  all 
things  it  means  good  will  toward  all  men,  with  the 
emphasis  of  reality  on  both  the  will  and  the  ^ood. 
The  peace  which  the  world  needs  approaches  with 
each  fresh  soul  who  forsakes  the  ways  of  selfishness, 
whether  personal  or  national,  and  chooses  the  way 
of  the  civilized  man. 

We  need  now  to  clear  from  our  minds  a  whole 
cluster  of  heathen  falsehoods  as,  for  example,  that 
goodness  is  feeble  and  evil  Is  strong;  that  Ideals  are 
dreams,  and  gold,  corn,  and  barrels  of  flour  are  real- 
ities; that  human  nature  Is  a  poor,  feeble  thing  at 
best  and  you  never  can  change  It.  People  seem  to 
themselves  very  wise  In  repeating  these  old  saws 
as  If  they  were  original.  Did  we  not  admit  that  all 
the  heresies  that  hurt  men  are  fashionable?  You 
can  cite  plausible  facts  to  support  them!  Pray  cite 
all  the  facts  that  you  wish.  Please  then  exercise  the 
slenderest  Intelligence  upon  the  direct  question: 
What  Is  the  truth? 


THE  HERESIES  THAT   HURT  MEN  173 

Is  goodness  feeble?     It  is  the  toughest  substance 
in  the  universe,  guaranteed  by  the  Almighty.     Men 
have  thought  they  were  trampling  upon  it,  breaking 
down  its  will,  torturing  and  crucifying  it.     But  they 
never  could  kill  it;  if  they  seemed  to  defeat  it  in 
one  place,  presently  it  shone  out  somewhere  else. 
Goodness  is  integrity,  it  is  order,  wholeness,  health. 
Why  should  it  not  be  strong?     Men  thought  that 
they  must  uphold  civilization  and  defend  it  from  the 
barbarians.     How  ?     By  sacrificing  the  principles  of 
civilized  men  and  taking  the  methods  of  the  savage! 
They  based  their  civilization,  like  all  the  Kaisers, 
upon  having  the  heavier  battalions.     Cannot  men  see 
that   every  beautiful  virtue  which  makes  life   dear 
and  builds  up  order  in  the  earth,  has  been  achieved 
in  the  teeth  of  a  prevailing  animaHsm,  stupidity,  hate 
and   savagery,   simply  because   order,   law,   fidelity, 
truth,  good  will  are  invincible?     You  cannot  defend 
these  eternal  things  with  machine  guns.     You  can 
only  give  your  souls  to  obey  them. 

What  are  these  ideals  which  men  still  daily  set 
over  in  supposed  opposition  to  their  precious,  huge 
and  heavy  practicalities?  There  is  no  opposition. 
The  ideal  is  everywhere  simply  the  plan,  or  thought- 
side  of  the  things  you  wish  to  make.  The  better 
the  thing  —  a  house,  a  picture,  a  temple,  a  city,  a 
friendship,  a  commonwealth,  a  civilized  world  —  the 
better,  nobler,  more  complex  must  the  plan  or  ideal 
be.  What  good  thing  do  you  seek  to  do,  purpose- 
lessly, without  any  plan?  What  greater  joy  has 
the  constructive  mind  of  man  than  to  create  good 


174  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

plans  for  good  things  and  then  to  go  forth  and 
make  the  plan  real?  This  is  to  share  in  the  work 
of  the  supreme  Intelligence.  What  possible  work 
of  man  is  so  practical  as  to  have  both  an  eye  to  see, 
and  a  hand  to  make  real,  that  vision  or  ideal  or 
plan  which  we  call  the  "  Kingdom  of  God  "?  We 
mean  a  humane  and  civilized  world,  good  to  live  in 
throughout  every  corner  and  island  of  it.  I  see 
nothing  weak  about  this,  or  in  the  men  and  women 
who  will  bring  it  to  pass. 

We  do  not  wish  to  change  human  nature.  We 
are  well  enough  suited  with  it  at  its  best.  We  like 
the  children  with  all  their  faults.  We  like  grown- 
up people,  despite  their  faults.  We  are  not  satisfied 
with  the  children  or  their  elders.  We  are  distressed 
whenever  the  brute  grows  while  the  man  does  not 
grow.  But  we  maintain  that  men  and  women  and 
children  have  in  them  that  which  is  divine  and  eter- 
nal. When  this  better  nature  gleams  out,  as  it  does 
at  times  gleam  from  the  darkest  corners,  we  are  glad 
and  happy.  By  virtue  of  this  we  can  believe  in 
the  men  yet  to  come.  Let  the  good  spirit  play  like 
the  sunshine  upon  men,  let  men  from  childhood  up- 
ward have  the  conditions  and  the  opportunity  to 
grow  freely  as  men,  and  no  one  will  complain  any 
longer  that  we  must  change  human  nature.  It  will 
be  good  enough  when  the  human  nature  in  all  of  us 
grows,  matures,  ripens,  as  it  has  already  many  a 
time  grown  and  borne  fruit. 


SECTION  IV 

THE  NEW  CIVILIZATION 

I 

RELIGION   AND   INDUSTRIAL    DEMOCRACY 

In  arraigning  the  current  religion  for  its  compara- 
tive impotence,  we  showed  that  it  does  not  half  be- 
lieve its  own  doctrines.  It  is  supposed  to  teach  the 
idea  of  a  living  God,  a  real  and  spiritual  universe,  to 
which  we  belong.  It  teaches  in  words  the  idea  of  a 
brotherhood  of  mankind.  But  it  does  not  believe 
that  it  is  safe  to  behave  as  citizens  of  this  spiritual 
universe  or  to  trust  men  to  answer  to  our  friendly 
treatment.  Now  in  religion  to  half  believe  is  not 
to  believe;  it  is  to  mix  atheism  with  religion.  It  is 
to  defer  the  operation  of  your  religion  beyond  this 
present  life,  while  you  carry  on  life  here  as  if  this 
world  were  no  part  of  the  universe. 

We  wish  to  show  at  every  step  that  the  proof  of 
veritable  religion  lies  in  its  use  and  application. 
There  is  no  little  spot  in  the  region  of  human  con- 
duct where  our  religion  does  not  throw  a  new  light, 
add  a  new  and  greater  power,  and  introduce  fresh 
motives  and  hopes.  The  good  will  is  at  once  a  force 
and   a   solvent   for   all   human   problems.     Let   us 

175 


176  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

boldly  try  what  It  will  do  In  the  vexed  field  of  Indus- 
trial Democracy.  I  use  this  term  In  Its  largest  sense. 
Is  there  anything  In  the  science  of  political  economy 
which  It  does  not  cover  ?  No  wonder  the  economists 
have  often  been  dry  and  dull  with  their  Investigations 
of  the  economic  man  —  as  If  there  ever  were  such  a 
being  I  It  is  as  preposterous  to  make  an  abstract 
or  non-human  subject  of  political  economy  as  It  Is  to 
leave  the  vital  human  realities  out  of  the  science  of 
government. 

We  mean  by  Industrial  Democracy  whatever  con- 
cerns the  welfare  of  man  as  a  whole  man,  not  merely 
as  buying,  selling,  trading,  working,  serving,  or 
handling  money;  we  mean  the  man  who  Is  contented 
or  suffers  Injustice,  who  aspires  to  larger  means  and 
opportunity,  who  Is  thwarted,  stunted,  and  enfeebled, 
who  Is  bound  up  In  all  sorts  of  relations  with  the 
family,  with  friends,  with  clubs,  labor  unions,  and 
associations,  with  the  State,  the  nation,  and  the  aims 
of  political  parties,  with  the  methods  of  taxation, 
with  the  Interests  of  toiling,  despoiled,  starving,  op- 
pressed Industrial  comrades  in  every  part  of  the 
world,  with  helpless.  Ignorant,  and  Idle  peoples  also 
and  backward  races.  Thus,  whatever  is  human  be- 
comes precious  to  the  religious-minded  and  demo- 
cratic student  of  political  economy,  whether  he  has  a 
great  library  at  his  command  or  Is  only  the  humble 
reader  of  a  labor  paper.  His  wish  Is  more  than  to 
know  facts;  he  also  desires  to  sift  the  facts  with  one 
major  end;  namely,  to  see  how  better  to  lift  the  level 
of  life    for   all   men;   not   the  physical  life   alone, 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      177 

through  better  wages  and  outward  conditions,  but 
the  spiritual  life  also,  in  which  man  is  a  candidate 
for  new  reaches  of  free,  artistic,  aesthetic,  affectional 
expression.  We  want  to  learn  how  every  one  can 
be  set  upon  the  path  of  happy  social  experience;  we 
want  every  one  to  have  the  normal  rewards  of  his 
greatest  usefulness;  we  want  human  conservation. 

The  scope  of  human  interests  is  amazingly  wide 
and  complex;  it  is  unlikely  that  we  can  tell  in  advance 
how  any  theory  or  scheme  will  work  in  its  ultimate 
effect.  We  must  cheerfully  try  social  and  political 
experiments;  we  must  be  hospitable  to  new  proposals 
as  well  as  conservative  in  keeping  whatever  values 
we  have  already  obtained.  Do  we  want  socialism, 
for  example?  No  one  yet  can  possibly  tell  us  what 
socialism  will  be  and  what  it  will  do  ?  Let  us  not  be 
afraid  to  take  such  steps  toward  it  as  are  obviously 
just.  To  do  justice  must  surely  be  safe.  Mean- 
while, no  ideal  system,  whether  of  government  or 
of  industry,  can  succeed  without  men  and  women 
who  are  themselves  sufficiently  civilized  and  social- 
ized to  fit  it  and  to  make  it  work.  Every  step  we 
take  together  toward  our  ideal  system  of  human 
co-operation  must  evidently  react  upon  the  men  and 
women  who  share  in  it,  making  them  either  more  or 
less  worthy  to  enjoy  a  full  and  richer  life.  Who 
would  desire  socialism  if  our  experiments  in  It  Indi- 
cate a  general  weakening  of  the  energy,  the  Inde- 
pendence, the  originality,  the  nerve,  the  joy  of  the 
people?  These  qualities  are  the  spiritual  tests  of  full- 
ness of  life.     Could  we  be  content  with  any  scheme 


178  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

that  divided  the  largest  volumes  of  material  ever 
known  among  the  biggest  populations,  if  this  well- 
fed  multitude  lacked  integrity,  faith,  hopefulness, 
sympathy;  if  they  had  no  virile  religion? 

I  make  bold  to  say  that  there  is  nothing  except 
the  new  force  of  good  will  with  which  we  can  address 
ourselves  to  the  tangle  of  labyrinthine  problems  that 
lie  now  before  the  march  of  mankind.  Hopelessly 
dark  without  this,  with  this  they  become  almost 
easy.     Several  simple  propositions  seem  to  prove  it. 

First,  we  have  a  right  to  believe  that  average  men, 
and  not  merely  an  exceptional  few,  are  susceptible  to 
ideal  doctrines.  In  other  words,  they  are  readier 
for  them  than  the  people  of  superior  education 
imagine.  Take,  for  example,  that  principle  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  industrial  justice :  "  We 
desire  only  that  which  is  fair,  or  what  belongs  to 
us."  This  is  the  heart  of  that  most  remarkable 
and  spiritual  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  Thou 
shalt  not  covet  anything  that  belongs  to  thy  neigh- 
bor —  which  far  surpasses  the  rule  not  to  steal.  It 
says:  Do  not  wish  to  steal.  I  believe  the  average 
mind  responds  to  this.  If  we  only  had  Imagination 
enough  to  see  its  implications  we  should  hardly  need 
any  other  rule  of  conduct  in  industry  or  business. 
Industrial  Democracy  rests  upon  the  general  good 
will  in  the  hearts  of  men  to  wish  for  nothing  that  be- 
longs to  another. 

The  trouble  now  is  that  we  see  only  the  surface  of 
this  rule.  We  think  of  the  items  mentioned  in  the 
text,  the  neighbor's  house,  his  furniture,  his  animals. 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      179 

his  money,  the  things  in  sight.  We  think  of  the 
things  that  he  has  already  got  and  which  are  inven- 
toried under  his  name.  It  does  not  occur  to  us  to 
ask  about  the  things  which  ought  to  belong  to  a  man, 
which  he  has  not  yet  received.  Probably  most  slave- 
holders "  did  not  think,"  as  children  say,  that  they 
were  stealing  the  slaves'  lives.  They  saw  the  slave 
as  one  who  possessed  nothing,  and  flattered  them- 
selves for  their  kindness  if  they  gave  him  his  living! 
How  about  any  class  of  industrial  workers,  such  for 
instance  as  unskilled  railroad  workers,  who,  as  has 
been  commonly  admitted,  have  been  paid  insufli- 
ciently?  In  other  words,  wages  have  been  with- 
held from  those  who  ought  to  have  had  them. 
Why?  The  directors  and  superintendents  of  the 
roads  would  have  been  shocked  if  any  one  had 
charged  them  with  theft.  But  whether  with  or 
without  fraudulent  intent  their  conduct  has  resulted 
in  theft.  They  have  systematically  taken  from  the 
total  earnings  of  their  roads  what  belonged  to,  and 
ought  to  have  been  distributed  among,  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men.  They  have  perhaps  said  to 
themselves  what  slaveholders  said:  We  pay  the 
standard  rates  for  this  class  of  men.  To-day  the 
question  presses  more  closely :  Do  you  wish  and  mean 
to  keep  back  for  your  dividends  what  by  right  is 
due  to  these  workers?  The  same  question  begins 
to  push  back  to  all  stockholders'  meetings.  Do  you 
wish  dividends,  part  of  which  belong  to  your  em- 
ployees? No  honest  and  well-disposed  men  or 
women  can  meet  this  question  save  with  one  answer : 


l8o  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Tell  us  what  will  be  fair  and  right!  We  wish  to 
take  no  dividends  at  other  men's  expense. 

This  is  no  one-sided  issue.  The  workingman,  no 
less  than  the  employing  class,  needs  to  have  his  ideal- 
istic imagination  awakened.  Most  likely  you  will 
reach  his  intelligence  sooner  than  that  of  the  wealth- 
ier men.  He  does  not  wish  more  than  is  his. 
Every  one  would  say  this.  But  suppose  that  being 
discontended  with  his  wages  or  the  length  of  his 
working  day,  he  seeks  to  "  get  even  "  with  his  em- 
ployer by  some  process  of  slacking  or  sabotage? 
How  does  any  one  who  takes  his  case  into  his  own 
hands  either  by  force  or  trickery,  know  that  he  will 
get  only  what  he  tries  for,  and  not  an  advantage 
over  the  other;  that  is,  more  than  belongs  to  him? 
Why  should  I  stoop  from  my  manhood  and  become 
dishonest  because  I  think  another  man  is  worse  than 
I  am?  If  I  do  this,  it  is  because  I  have  lost  my 
integrity,  my  good  will,  my  good  humor.  I  am  not 
at  my  best,  and  am  ready  therefore  to  commit  injus- 
tice. 

The  vexed  question  of  privilege  comes  in  here. 
The  world  has  so  long  been  used  to  the  fact  of  priv- 
ilege that  its  beneficiaries  and  its  victims  also  have 
accepted  it  as  a  normal  institution,  without  asking 
what  honest  basis  it  ever  had.  I  mean  by  privilege 
all  such  special  favors,  advantages,  and  exemptions 
allowed  or  taken  by  certain  people  or  classes  at  the 
cost,  the  loss,  or  the  disadvantage  of  the  rest  of  the 
people.  A  teacher  has  a  favorite  pupil  to  whom 
she  gives  more  attention  than  she  is  able  to  give  to 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      l8l 

the  others;  a  nation  favors  families  who  possess 
the  richest  and  largest  lands,  and  seats  in  Parliament; 
a  Governor  or  President  is  permitted  to  nominate 
his  friends  or  relatives  for  lucrative  offices;  a  class 
of  manufacturers  is  given  power  to  adjust  taxes  for 
their  own  benefit;  a  group  of  shrewd  men  is 
granted  a  monopoly  of  timber  land,  of  copper  mines, 
of  water-power;  a  millionaire  is  allowed  to  endow 
a  family  who  can  live  upon  the  public  perhaps  for  a 
hundred  years.  Who  would  not  like,  thinking  only 
of  the  selfish  side  of  it,  to  enjoy  such  special  ad- 
vantage in  the  struggle  of  life!  We  are  all  now 
being  disillusionized,  or  rather  our  idealistic  imagina- 
tion is  being  quickened,  about  the  meaning  of  priv- 
ilege. As  no  right-thinking  child  likes  to  be  a 
teacher's  favorite,  as  no  manly  boy  wishes  to  win 
the  game  by  the  favor  of  the  umpire,  so  men  are 
opening  their  eyes  and  refusing  economic  or  political 
favors  and  privileges  which  carry  the  taint  of  Injury 
to  their  fellows.  Who  am  I  to  covet  what  may  be 
felt  somewhere  in  the  great  social  body  as  so  much 
impoverishment!  The  Industrial  Democracy,  In 
denying  special  privileges,  open  to  some  but  not  open 
to  all,  is  thus  enlarging  the  opportunities  for  all  man- 
kind, and  not  least  of  all  for  those  who  In  accepting 
the  old-time  privileges  of  class  and  heredity  are  now 
seen  to  have  suffered  exposure  to  special  and  ugly 
perils  to  their  character  and  their  honor. 

Another  excellent  foundation  stone  underneath  In- 
dustrial Democracy  is  the  zvill  to  pay  our  way  in  the 
world.     This  Is  the  more  positive  aspect  of  our  will 


1 82  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

to  have  nothing  that  rightly  belongs  to  others.  We 
want  more  than  merely  to  keep  within  our  rights. 
The  idealistic  imagination  in  us  is  certainly  caught 
with  the  constructive  idea  of  doing  our  part  in  the 
world's  cost,  toil,  struggle,  sacrifice,  and  even  suffer- 
ing. Do  we  want  to  be  exempt  from  that  which 
belongs  to  the  work  of  mankind?  We  need  to  see 
that  it  is  given  to  every  man  and  market  to  hasten 
*'  the  good  day  coming." 

Look  at  it  in  this  way.  You  and  I  cost  a  good 
deal  of  money  in  the  course  of  an  education  and 
before  we  ever  earn  a  dollar.  We  cost  money  every 
day  as  long  as  we  live.  The  money  is  merely  the 
method  of  keeping  accounts.  If  our  parents  pay  it, 
or  the  city,  the  ultimate  terms  of  the  cost  are  in 
human  labor  and  rarely  our  own.  The  question  is: 
Do  we  ever  make  good  for  our  cost?  Is  it  worth 
while  that  we  should  have  lived,  so  far  as  those 
are  concerned  who  have  hoed  the  corn,  reaped  the 
wheat,  woven  the  cloth,  cooked  the  food,  and  pro- 
vided our  happy  surroundings?  Evidently,  the 
more  I  use  and  the  more  I  enjoy,  the  more  am  I 
bound  in  honor  to  make  an  equivalent  in  some  kind 
of  human  service.  To  pay  my  bills  honorably  is  the 
least  part  of  it.  What  can  I  say  of  the  means 
through  which  my  income  reaches  me?  Is  it  hon- 
estly earned?  That  is,  does  the  way  in  which  my 
parents  or  I  got  my  money  do  any  good?  No  man 
has  any  right  to  die  happy,  unless  he  may  hope  that 
it  has  been  well  worth  while  to  the  great  toiling 
world  to  have  boarded  and  clothed  him. 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      183 

Does  some  one  resent  such  close  economic  scrutiny 
into  the  social  value  of  men's  lives?  Call  it  not 
only  sound  economics,  but  also  warm,  vital,  spiritual 
truth.  What  if  we  are  about  to  find  that  the  con- 
sciousness of  social  usefulness  is  a  precious  experience 
of  religion?  What  if  the  current  of  religious  or 
spiritual  life  will  not  any  longer  run  freely  into  idle, 
lazy,  selfish,  useless  lives,  which  fail  to  pay  their 
way! 

It  is  extraordinary  that  bright  men  have  been  so 
slow  in  catching  these  ideas.  How  can  any  man 
think  that  he  is  working  for  himself?  Every  one  is 
a  constructor  of  the  temple  of  humanity;  every  one  is 
a  potential  contributor  to  the  work  of  sustaining  and 
strengthening  the  body  of  society.  Men  can  hardly 
make  national  boundaries  or  tariff  walls  high  enough 
to  stop  the  flow  of  this  common  social  life.  No 
nation  can  live  unto  itself  any  more  than  an  indi- 
vidual can.  Do  you  imagine  that  the  quarrels  be- 
tween employers  and  workmen,  which  cut  down  the 
quality  and  the  supply  of  shoes  or  clothing,  is  the 
private  affair  of  a  few  thousand  people?  No,  it 
affects  men  and  women  in  Idaho  and  becomes  an- 
other reason  for  the  poverty  in  the  streets  of 
London.  It  is  a  sore  spot  upon  the  body  of 
society. 

I  do  not  lay  down  these  propositions  as  cold  mat- 
ters of  duty,  but  as  good  news,  a  new  motive,  a  fresh 
hope.  We  are  made  to  like  to  play  together  and 
also  to  act  together.  The  moment  man  becomes  a 
co-operative  being  he  can  never  be  at  his  best  or 


l84  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

happy  till  he  is  aware  of  playing  his  part  in  the 
orchestra  of  life.  You  may  almost  lay  down  the 
rule  that  the  deepest  wish  in  a  man's  heart  is  that 
he  shall  count  for  something  worth  while  among 
his  fellows.  There  is  a  certain  sense  of  immortality 
in  the  thought  that  one  has  added  worth  to  the 
structure  of  human  life.  The  builders  of  the  medie- 
val cathedrals  must  have  had  something  of  this 
hopeful  fellowship.  Their  work  was  a  parable  for 
men  of  all  time. 

We  want  a  social  state  in  which  the  whole  man 
Is  in  his  work.  Industrial  democracy  is  nothing  less 
than  good  society.  Whenever  you  are  at  work,  you, 
at  your  best,  useful,  skillful,  honest,  effective,  free, 
happy,  ought  to  find  other  men  and  women  work- 
ing in  hope  and  sympathy  and  establishing  excellent 
comradeship.  We  have  no  hard  and  fast  limita- 
tion of  the  terms  of  social  service,  as  if  only  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  were  useful,  or  again 
as  if  all  could  ever  be  equally  serviceable.  W^e  leave 
nothing  out  before  which  you  can  fairly  mark  the 
plus  sign.  We  leave  out  no  well-learned  lesson  in  a 
school,  no  smile  of  a  child,  no  brave  gesture  of  a 
sick  man  in  the  hospital,  no  "  God  bless  you  "  from 
the  mouth  of  an  old  man  or  woman  who  can  now  do 
nothing  more  than  to  add  sweetness  and  light  to  per- 
fect the  atmosphere  of  the  home.  We  count  for  Its 
full  worth  every  picture  and  song  and  verse  and  story 
that  makes  for  beauty  and  joy.  We  can  afford  to 
give  everyone  his  place  In  the  Industrial  Democracy. 
W^e  grudge  the  cost  of  his  living  to  no  one  who  is 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      185 

willing  to  do  his  part  and  be  modest  about  it,  to 
appreciate  also  the  full  worth  of  his  fellows. 

We  associate  democracy  with  liberty.  In  the 
highest  sense  you  can  never  take  away  a  man's  lib- 
erty. They  put  Socrates  in  prison,  but,  as  he  told 
them,  they  could  not  catch  his  soul.  It  rests  between 
you  and  God  at  each  moment  to  be  so  free,  so  will- 
ing, so  satisfied,  heart  and  soul,  with  what  you  have 
to  do  or  bear,  that  you  are  beyond  the  confines  of 
time  and  place  and  circumstances.  But  this  higher 
meaning  of  liberty  is  bound  up  with,  and  largely  exer- 
cised through,  external  conditions.  Thus  a  free 
state,  as  distinguished  from  a  tyranny,  opens  oppor- 
tunities for  all  its  people  to  develop  and  express  their 
opinions  and  to  shape  its  conduct.  This  fine  theory 
of  democracy  has  never  yet  been  attained  anywhere. 
We  have  been  disappointed  in  our  American  democ- 
racy. We  have  come  to  see  that  no  political  democ- 
racy can  be  free  or  happy,  while  industrial  democ- 
racy does  not  yet  exist.  You  must  throw  off  all 
shackles  from  men  and  women.  This  is  the  modern 
message;  it  is  a  spiritual  message.  You  will  not 
find  a  solid  philosophy,  much  less  a  general  persua- 
sive motive  for  It,  except  on  spiritual  grounds. 
Those  who  are  going  to  Insist  most  strenuously  upon 
it  will  be  everywhere  the  men  and  women  of  good 
will;  that  Is,  religious-minded  people.  The  selfish 
people,  hi^h  or  low,  stand  to  block  Its  way. 

What  kind  of  democratic  conditions  must  we  now 
establish  In  industry?     Suppose  we  Imagine  one  of 


1 86  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  old-fashioned  ship  yards  on  the  coast  of  New 
England  a  century  ago.  It  was  a  co-operative  en- 
terprise In  which  half  the  men  of  the  town  might 
have  a  share  in  the  vessel.  Did  any  man  com- 
plain of  the  pay  or  the  length  of  the  day's  work? 
He  could  go  back  to  the  land  and  be  his  own  master. 
The  men  who  built  the  ship  might  have  a  chance  to 
sail  with  the  captain  who  had  launched  her.  They 
knew  one  another;  the  Captain  had  to  be  on  his 
good  behavior  If  he  wished  to  keep  his  men  —  often 
his  own  neighbors.  All  the  crew  might  have  a 
bonus  in  the  profits  of  the  voyage. 

Contrast  these  free  possibilities,  In  which  the  ven- 
ture of  a  ship  or  a  voyage  spelled  opportunity,  with 
the  narrow  limitations  of  a  vast  modern  shop  or 
factory  or  mine.  What  can  men  do  who  find  them- 
selves under  a  tyrannous  foreman  and  at  the  same 
time  at  an  almost  infinite  remove  from  the  well- 
guarded  superintendent's  oflice?  Where  are  the 
owners  of  the  business?  In  a  dozen  States.  Who 
makes  the  rules?  Who  fixes  the  pay?  Who  can 
relieve  uncomfortable  or  unhygienic  conditions? 
Who  cares  for  you?  Where  can  you  go  If  you  give 
up  your  place?  What  If  you  have  a  family  of  little 
children  who  leave  no  surplus  in  your  purse  at  the 
end  of  the  week?  If  you  go  away  what  reason 
have  you  to  expect  to  find  better  conditions?  Put 
yourself  In  the  place  of  any  one  of  the  million  work- 
ing people,  such  as  come  to  America  without  know- 
ing the  English  language,  and  ask  what  you  would 
do  and  what  you  would  want.     How  much  would 


RELIGION  AND  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      1 87 

the  right  to  vote  for  the  President  touch  your  actual 
life?  Perhaps  you  would  think  bitterly  of  the  peo- 
ple who  owned  the  mill  or  the  mine.  You  would  not 
dream  that  they  might  be  kindly  and  justly-inten- 
tioned.  You  would  say  that  they  cared  for  nothing 
except  to  make  money  out  of  you.  How  preposter- 
ous it  would  seem  to  be  told  that  you  and  they  are 
actual  partners  in  a  grand  social  enterprise,  that  its 
only  justification  Is  in  the  social  service  in  which  the 
owner's  savings  and  capital  are  combined  with  the 
earning  of  your  daily  bread !  Do  you  not  see  that 
here  is  an  actually  harsh  system  of  bondage  under 
the  flag  of  a  free  country? 

In  war  time  the  President  told  us  that  every 
worker  counts  the  same  as  if  each  man  were  a  soldier 
in  arms.  It  came  as  a  new  idea;  of  course  it  was 
absolutely  true.  But  how  should  it  be  true  in  war 
time  and  not  always?  The  needs  of  war  pass  and 
the  soldiers  are  disbanded.  But  the  workers  are 
needed  forever,  not  by  one  nation  alone  but  by  all 
humanity,  which  lives  by  the  common  labor.  The 
idealistic  imagination  of  millions  of  workmen  act- 
ually caught,  and  responded  to,  the  President's  ap- 
peal. Even  the  owners  and  great  superintendents 
saw  that  it  must  be  true.  Was  it  true  for  the  work- 
men and  not  true  for  the  well-fed  owners?  Did  it 
command  the  great  group  to  work  with  a  new  cheer- 
fulness, and  permit  the  smaller  and  more  powerful 
group  to  become  "  profiteers  "?  The  whole  nation 
cried  out  against  this  shame.  But  why  should  reck- 
less gathering  in  of  profits  in  war  time  be  shameful, 


1 88  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

and  reckless  selfishness  in  the  treatment  of  men  and 
women  still  be  respectable  at  any  other  time  ?  What 
is  there  in  the  nature  of  war  to  require  a  higher  re- 
spect for  human  labor  than  we  should  always  have 
for  it? 

The  President,  however,  did  not  merely  preach  a 
sermon  to  the  workers  of  the  nation  on  the  dignity 
of  labor  and  the  worth  of  the  individual  man;  steps 
were  at  once  taken  to  translate  the  lesson  into  action. 
Were  the  men  in  shops  and  mines  co-workers  with 
soldiers  in  the  field  and  rich  directors  in  their  oflices? 
Then  they  must  have  at  least  such  wages  as  became 
their  honored  and  respected  callings.  Should  we 
give  every  beautiful  kind  of  care  to  the  soldier,  and 
take  no  thought  for  his  brother  without  whose  serv- 
ice he  could  not  move?  What  a  wonderful  lesson 
we  have  been  learning  of  the  solidarity  of  mankind  I 
But  this  solidarity  of  mankind  is  the  key  to  Industrial 
Democracy.  Can  we  ever  go  back,  having  caught 
the  idea,  and  do  or  permit  the  things  that  once  fet- 
tered the  lives  of  men  and  imprisoned  their  spirits? 
Can  we  ever  forget  that  which  alone  gave  war  any 
feeble  excuse  —  the  idea  of  the  humanity  for  which 
men  were  asked  to  lay  down  their  lives? 

The  vast  industries  which  everywhere  lift  their  big 
walls  and  chimneys  represent  a  new  order  —  the 
kingdom  of  mechanical  power,  of  steel  and  electric- 
ity. They  have  grown  so  fast  that  we  have  only 
now  begun  to  change  them  over  into  human  terms. 
We  thought  that  they  were  here  to  make  money 
for  us.     We  did  not  see  that  they  would  be  Frank- 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      1 89 

ensteins  unless  we  attached  them  to  the  spiritual 
ends  for  which  we  all  exist.  We  must  make  them 
into  the  grandest  means  ever  yet  devised  for  the 
welfare  of  mankind.  We  must  re-dedicate  them 
to  the  service  of  humanity. 

The  indispensable  conditions  without  which  it  is 
going  to  be  henceforth  intolerable  to  permit  the  in- 
dustries of  the  world  to  go  on,  already  become  quite 
clear.  What  now  would  be  our  wish,  if  our  place 
in  the  labor  world  chanced  to  be  as  workers  among 
other  thousands?  We  should  want,  first,  respect, 
good  manners  and  good  temper,  not  only  from  the 
heads  and  managers  of  the  work,  but  from  the  pub- 
lic also;  that  is,  from  all  who  share  the  product  of 
the  work.  The  complete  structure  of  democracy 
rests  upon  this  honorable  respect,  which  sees  the  man 
in  every  form  of  working  costume,  whether  he  de- 
livers letters,  or  defends  the  roadbed  of  a  railroad 
from  washouts,  or  heaves  coal.  We  have  felt  just 
enough  of  this  spirit  in  the  war  time  to  understand 
how,  once  shown,  it  can  never  be  allowed  to  lapse. 

Next,  we  should  want  for  ourselves  and  for  the 
sake  of  our  children  such  wages  and  conditions  as 
tend  to  develop  manly  character  and  self-respect  and 
to  ensure  clean  and  decent  living.  We  have  begun 
to  perceive  that  such  conditions  run  with  and  not 
against  the  economies  of  sound  business.  We  can- 
not afford  to  pinch  and  starve  our  cows  and  horses. 
Is  any  modern  man  so  dull  as  to  think  we  can  afford 
to  set  human  lives  in  squalid  terms?     The  only  ra- 


190  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

tional  end  and  aim  of  organized  business  is  to 
fit  men  happily  and  effectively  to  their  work.  We 
might  have  a  socialist  State  and  for  want  of  the 
spiritual  conditions  fail  to  get  and  give  this  demo- 
cratic respect.  We  might  stop  a  good  way  short  of 
Socialism  and,  with  right  human  relations,  have 
complete  respect  for  each  other. 

Next,  we  want  for  every  one  the  utmost  possible 
freedom  of  environment.  No  shop  or  mine  or  mill 
must  seem  to  confine  men  like  a  prison.  We  need  to 
know  that  for  any  good  reason  we  are  free  to  move 
out  and  change  from  a  factory  to  the  land,  or  from 
farm  work  to  a  trade.  I  can  be  content  to  stay  all 
the  better  when  I  am  not  conscripted  and  forced  to 
remain  like  a  serf. 

We  want  also  complete  democracy  of  manage- 
ment. This  is  not  to  say  that  we  must  have  "  social- 
ist "  management,  or  majority  rule,  either  in  the 
State  or  the  shop.  It  means  something  more  prec- 
ious and  profound.  We  have  had  terrible  visions 
in  almost  every  nation  of  the  cruel  and  overbearing 
tyranny  of  which  a  multitude  is  capable,  and  what 
despots  a  majority  may  tolerate  or  raise  to  power. 
I  call  that  only  a  democratic  management  which  is 
characterized  throughout  by  good  will,  in  which 
every  interest  in  the  common  work,  or  its  product,  is 
consulted  and  enjoys  the  liberty  of  expression,  of 
criticism,  complaint,  and  constructive  suggestion.  I 
can  imagine  a  ship's  captain,  picked  out  by  the  own- 
ers, giving  men,  freely  shipping  with  him,  a  thor- 
oughly democratic  management;  and  I  can  imagine  a 


RELIGION  AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY      19 1 

President  of  a  nation,  chosen  by  the  secret  ballot,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  party  system  to  usurp  and  exer- 
cise undemocratic  power.  How  can  a  democratic 
people  ever  suffer  a  President  to  have  the  imperial 
control  of  an  army  and  navy? 

The  greatest  of  all  things  that  we  want  for  the 
happiness  or  success  of  our  labor  is  hope.  Do  you 
wonder  that  most  men  have  reaped  little  satisfaction 
from  life?  What  satisfactions  worthy  of  men  can 
suppressed  populations  ever  enjoy?  Nations  have 
run  down  and  faded  out.  Why?  Because  the  hope 
of  achievement  has  faded.  What  could  you  expect 
of  the  children  forced  by  the  need  of  bread  into  the 
cotton  mills  of  Lancashire?  Only  the  few  could 
even  glimpse,  over  the  stunted  bodies  and  minds  of 
their  fellow  workers,  the  coming  dawn  and  hear  a 
valid  call  to  make  themselves  ready  to  welcome  it. 

Everything  composing  man's  life  is  electric  to 
spiritual  conditions.  High  wages,  adequate  food, 
clean  work-rooms,  and  comfortable  housing  are  by 
themselves  like  the  connecting  wires,  vain  unless  the 
power  runs  over  and  through  them.  They  could  not 
even  exist  till  an  age  had  come  when  loyalty,  friend- 
liness, justice,  had  set  up  proper  batteries  to  fit  them 
to  act  upon  thousands  of  hearts.  They  could  not 
satisfy  human  beings  unless  a  new  atmosphere  of 
confidence,  mutuality,  good  will,  and  the  hope  of  the 
new  day  were  warming  their  souls.  The  Industrial 
Democracy  is  greater  and  better  than  any  definition 
of  it.  It  is  rehgious.  It  fits  into  a  conception  of 
God's  world  —  no  selfish  devil's  world.     It  belongs 


192  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

to  the  realm  of  Integrity,  harmony,  music,  and  happi- 
ness. It  is  such  an  organization  of  the  work  of  the 
world,  so  free  and  yet  so  intelligent,  as  tends  to 
bring  each  man  to  his  best  and  to  fit  loyal  and 
friendly  men  to  the  most  abundant  service  of  all, 
combining  welfare  and  happiness.  It  cannot  possi- 
bly come  about  through  the  most  ingenious  machin- 
ery; it  will  always  be  creating  and  renewing  its  tools 
and  sending  useless  worn  out  gearing  to  the  scrap 
heap.  It  Is  vital  and  growing;  and  the  best  of  it  is 
that  you  can  never  quite  attain  to  Its  inexhaustible 
possibilities.  See  under  our  eyes  how  a  few  nations, 
half  awake  to  the  call  of  the  needy  humanity,  can 
feed  and  clothe  a  starving,  desolated  world,  racked 
with  strife.  What  might  we  not  do,  altogether 
awake;  trusting  where  we  now  distrust;  comrades  all, 
where  we  still  fear  enemies;  free  at  last  of  barriers 
and  divisive  jealousies;  educated  where  we  are  now 
illiterate ;  sharing  immense  common  hopes,  the  forces 
of  the  spirit  of  men  set  to  match  the  unexhausted  re- 
sources of  material  power? 


II 

EDUCATION    FOR   THE    PEOPLE 

A  NEW  kind  of  education  is  wanted  to  match  the  re- 
quirements of  a  democratic  regime,  to  prepare  a  peo- 
ple for  truly  civilized  life,  and  finally  to  lift  the  level 
of  all  humanity.  There  must  be  a  new  flexibility  of 
methods  suitable  to  a  vital  and  growing  organism. 
There  must  be  no  arbitrary  line  at  which  any  one's 
education  is  assumed  to  come  to  an  end.  Arrange- 
ment must  be  made  for  the  continual  teaching  of  a 
people,  none  of  whom  can  ever  grow  too  old  to 
learn. 

In  the  old  days,  and  very  lately  too,  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe,  they  provided  for  the  education  of 
a  small  class  to  command,  while  the  body  of  the  peo- 
ple were  prepared  to  work  and  fight  and  obey.  The 
traditions  and  methods  of  this  intolerable  dualistic 
training  still  hold  a  dead  hand  over  our  minds. 
Some  of  its  culture  was  doubtless  excellent.  We 
have  to  educate  no  longer  an  aristocratic  class  to 
command,  but  ^e  have  the  larger  enterprise  of 
training  a  multitude  of  men  and  women,  out  of  whom 
a  better  and  more  numerous  leadership  than  ever 
was  before  shall  be  evolved.  As  individuals  cannot 
have  a  surplusage  of  intelligence  or  virtue,  so  the 

193 


194  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

commonwealth  cannot  possess  a  surplus  of  trained 
and  high-minded  candidates  for  every  kind  of  office 
and  leadership.     The  more  fit  men,  the  better. 

The  fundamental  requirement  of  a  democratic  ed- 
ucation is  that  it  shall  fit  every  one  to  be  useful  in 
the  largest  sense.  Every  one  must  produce  some 
actual  social  value;  we  can  exempt  no  one  from  this 
test.  What  good  can  you  do  for  society?  How 
can  any  one  possess  a  rich  and  all-round  culture 
without  welcoming  this  law  of  the  common  life? 
Who  is  content  to  be  useless? 

Let  no  one  suppose,  because  this  seems  obvious, 
that  we  have  more  than  begun  to  persuade  every 
one  in  America  to  believe  it.  Do  we  not  know  men, 
like  hereditary  Hessian  dukes,  who  assume  that 
they  have  a  right  to  live  on  the  wealth  of  their 
grandfathers,  on  the  unearned  increment  of  a  corner 
lot,  or  on  the  profits  of  a  lucky  speculation,  and  that 
they  can  "  found  a  family  "  to  go  on  living  after 
them  without  any  useful  work?  Have  not  working 
men  often  the  same  bee  in  their  bonnets,  and  while 
they  now  belong  to  a  labor  union,  would  they  not 
like  the  chance  also  to  found  a  family,  as  such  men 
do  now  and  then  out  of  partnerships  to  which  they 
have  risen  in  the  steel  business?  Let  us  then  write 
into  our  bottommost  creed  our  belief  that  the  nor- 
mal end  and  aim  of  every  man  as  long  as  he  lives 
Is  predominantly  social,  to  be  useful  and  ever  more 
useful.  Why  should  we  wish  to  live,  If  our  presence 
here  only  cumbers  the  ground? 

What  would  a  Thoreau  say  to  this?     Must  he 


EDUCATION   FOR  THE   PEOPLE  195 

give  up  his  Individualism  and  go  into  a  factory? 
But  Thoreau  was  wonderfully  honest  and  scrupu- 
lous. Do  we  recollect  on  how  little  he  lived? 
Neither  did  he  spend  what  others  had  earned  for 
him.  Besides,  In  the  wide  scope  of  social  influence, 
we  include  the  adventurers  and  experimenters,  the 
men  of  the  "  free  lance  "  who,  impelled  by  an  in- 
spiration no  less  normal  than  that  of  the  poet  or 
artist,  take  to  the  woods,  or  roam  and  tramp,  and 
on  occasion  make  a  psalm  or  tell  their  story  or  pub- 
lish their  records,  as  Thoreau  did,  and  show  to  tame 
minds  unknown  wonders  of  creation.  But  these, 
too,  are  unworthy  of  their  free  life  unless  they  bow 
to  the  social  law:  they  must  be  honest  and  pay  their 
fare  like  the  rest;  least  of  all  must  they  pollute  the 
sources  of  life  for  their  own  gratification. 

See  now  how  far  the  Ideal  of  a  democracy  alters 
the  emphasis  of  education.  Men  have  been  trained 
to  compete  and  get  the  advantage,  to  win  out  by  loud 
advertising,  to  think  It  a  good  trade  In  which  the 
other  party  loses,  to  create  monopolies,  to  shut  their 
markets  against  the  business  of  other  nations.  Men 
have  been  told  to  skimp  their  work  and  to  get  more 
than  they  give.  The  new  education  teaches  the  able 
and  bright  men  to  find  their  profit  In  excellent  pro- 
duct and  abundant  fulfillment  of  their  promises.  In 
sharing  their  advantages  with  the  others.  In  con- 
tributing to  the  total  wealth,  in  breaking  down  bar- 
riers that  constrain  international  trade,  and  taking 
every  nation  Into  partnership  with  them.  Here  Is 
the  way  of  truth,  frlendhness,  philosophy,  religion, 


196  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

of  the  utmost  product  also  and  therefore  the  greatest 
net  dividend  of  material  gain.  Moreover,  men 
who  could  never  succeed  in  a  vulgar  strife  to  trip 
others  up  will  now  find  their  opportunity  for  benefi- 
cent success. 

The  democratic  ideal  throws  nothing  of  educa- 
tive value  out  of  its  curriculum  —  no  art,  no  lan- 
guage, "  dead  "  or  alive,  no  portion  of  history,  no 
detail  of  science,  no  high  reach  of  abstract  mathe- 
matics. At  the  same  time  it  asks  rigorously: 
What  is  the  use  of  it?  and  is  prepared  to  give  an 
answer.  No  knowledge  is  alien  to  the  searching 
mind  of  man.  No  curiosity  to  know  must  be 
thwarted.  The  best  State  University  supported  by 
the  people  must  provide  no  narrower  opportunity 
for  its  youth  than  the  most  richly  endowed  of  the 
old  colleges  intended  to  train  professional  men. 

The  people  desire  their  sons  and  daughters  to 
enjoy  every  facility  that  the  nobility  once  had.  This 
means  no  such  slovenly  conversation  and  writing  as 
we  tolerate  now :  it  means  correct  grammar,  truth- 
ful choice  of  words,  an  ample  vocabulary,  distinct 
speech,  well-trained  and  agreeable  voices,  an  inner 
sincerity  matched  with  persuasive  expression. 
What  was  once  only  feebly  attained  by  the  "  edu- 
cated class  "  is  now  made  the  standard  of  prepara- 
tion for  life  for  average  youth.  Why  not?  Do 
you  want  your  children  to  be  content  with  less  than 
the  best?  Remember,  too,  that  this  is  for  all  races 
and  classes.  If  it  is  good  for  white  children,  the 
doors  must  be  open  equally  for  black  or  brown.     In- 


EDUCATION   FOR  THE   PEOPLE  1 97 

deed  the  poorest  State  cannot  afford  to  do  less;  it 
will  grow  rich  only  as  it  grows  generous. 

Good  manners  were  once,  and  still  are,  a  suppos- 
edly special  mark  of  the  "  gentry,"  or  of  a  "  lib- 
eral "  education.  Even  so  the  rule  always  was 
noblesse  oblige.  We,  the  democracy,  universalize 
this.  We  desire  as  courteous  treatment  as  was  ever 
given  to  princes,  at  shops,  hotels,  on  the  street,  from 
hackmen,  baggage  men,  country  men.  Courtesy,  as 
shown  at  a  king's  court,  is  nothing  but  the  treatment 
due  to  every  man  and  woman  who  has  worth;  that 
is,  w!ho  is  useful.  We  like  it  and  we  owe  it.  Our 
education  must  include  it,  and  begin  early  with  it  as 
the  real  aristocrats  used  to  do.  You  cannot  put  it 
on  as  a  cloak;  it  belongs  at  the  heart  before  it  comes 
out  in  the  face  and  the  voice.  Can  you  bear  to  hear 
your  own  child  abusive  or  insolent  to  others,  espe- 
cially to  those  less  well  off  than  himself? 

Human  life  is  a  continual  process  of  adjustment  — 
to  environment,  to  work  or  profession,  to  one's  fel- 
lows and  their  devious  ways  and  behavior,  to  the 
State  and  the  laws,  to  the  necessities  of  travel  and 
the  customs  of  foreign  peoples,  to  the  variations  of 
sickness  and  health,  of  good  fortune  or  loss.  Edu- 
cation is  the  science  of  adjustments.  It  makes  one 
a  "  man  of  the  world,"  at  home  everywhere  and 
under  all  circumstances,  always  able  to  adapt  him- 
self to  changed  conditions,  to  bear  sorrow,  to  be  un- 
afraid of  death.  Every  new  experience  may  be  edu- 
ucative  to  such  a  person  as  this.     The  democratic 


^I98  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

ideal  of  fundamental  usefulness  tends  specially  to 
educate  people  in  this  ready  adjustability.  We  pro- 
claim that  every  boy  or  girl  —  and  we  are  saying  to- 
day every  wounded  or  crippled  soldier  —  must  be 
able  to  do  something  well,  if  possible  well  enough  to 
bring  its  reward.  We  are  doubtless  going  to  pro- 
vide ample  vocational  training,  but  better  yet,  a 
broad  aptitude  to  do  not  one  thing  alone,  but  many 
things  —  whatever  calls  for  skill,  patience,  energy, 
courage,  resourcefulness,  invention,  enterprise,  will. 
This  in  itself  will  constitute  a  new  kind  of  liberal 
education,  and  a  new  and  broader  freedom  to  the 
rank  and  file  of  men.  It  will  not  be  enough  to  say 
that  a  man  is  well  read  in  the  law,  a  teacher  of  lan- 
guage or  a  good  salesman.  What  else  can  he  do? 
How  could  he  earn  his  living  if  he  were  not  wanted 
in  law  or  in  teaching?  There  is  no  end  to  the  sug- 
gestions that  occur,  as  soon  as  we  consider  how 
broad  must  be  the  training  to  fit  the  adjustments  of 
life. 

Can  the  people  afford  such  training  as  we  have 
in  mind?  People  who  can  raise  billions  of  dollars 
for  war,  with  nothing  tangible  to  show  for  the  ex- 
penditure, can  surely  raise  whatever  is  needed  to  in- 
crease not  only  the  common  wealth  but  the  most 
precious  kind  of  wealth  —  wealth  in  man-power. 
What  else  is  real  wealth? 

Will  it  ever  be  worth  while  to  educate  every  one 
as  well  as  hitherto  only  the  few  have  been  educated? 
We  must  consider  the  diverse  possibilities  and  men- 
tal powers  of  different  children.     Our  intent  is  to 


EDUCATION   FOR  THE  PEOPLE  199 

offer  opportunity  for  every  one.  We  shall  not  force 
education  upon  reluctant  minds  or  use  our  schools 
as  places  of  imprisonment.  Neither,  on  the  other 
hand,  shall  we  tolerate  those  "  blind  alleys  "  in  in- 
dustry that  shut  the  doors  of  hope  against  the  de- 
velopment of  skill  and  intelligence.  The  doors  of 
the  schools  ought  to  swing  to  let  children  out,  and 
also  to  invite  them  to  return  at  any  time.  You  can 
never  tell  when  youth  supposed  to  be  dull  may  wake 
up  to  a  fresh  intellectual  life.  You  can  never  sur- 
mise what  undreamed  powers  a  new  love  or  hope  or 
ambition  or  genuine  experience  of  religion  may  add 
to  yourself  or  any  one  else.  What  teacher  or  neigh- 
bor of  Ohver  Cromwell  saw  in  him  the  master  poli- 
tical mind  of  his  age  till  his  soul  was  caught  with  the 
contagion  of  the  Puritan  religion ! 

The  center  of  human  life  is  in  the  will.  In  its 
free  or  highest  power  it  is  the  greatest  gift  of  the 
gods.  So  far  this  power  is  very  rare.  The  most 
brilliant  minds,  the  most  kindly  disposed  and  hu- 
mane people  have,  as  a  rule,  little  will  to  match 
their  promise.  Can  will  be  educated;  that  is, 
brought  into  play  and  developed?  We  have  hardly 
yet  tried  to  find  out.  Every  other  quality  in  man 
can  be  educated.  Why  not  the  central  life  power? 
No  one  can  estimate  what  it  would  mean  to  the  av- 
erage man,  and  therefore  to  the  nation,  to  double 
his  will  power! 

When  we  set  out  to  educate  the  will,  what  is  it 
that  we  mean?     We  mean  nothing  less  than  a  good 


200  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

will,  humane,  social,  friendly,  effective  for  the  com- 
mon service.  What  an  intolerable  miseducatlon  It 
would  be  to  add  power  to  selfish  wills !  We  do  this 
when  we  say  In  act  or  word:  "  Every  man  for  him- 
self." We  tend  to  do  It  by  our  system  of  marks 
and  honors.  We  do  It  for  young  voters  with  our 
cheap  partisanship.  The  will  grows  normally  in  the 
atmosphere  of  enthusiasm,  hope,  courage.  Idealism. 
We  have  put  will  into  war;  we  need  to  put  a  better 
will  Into  the  service  of  man.  To  say  we  can  before 
each  worthy  enterprise,  to  say  It  In  the  face  of  perils 
and  pessimism,  to  say  it  in  view  of  the  enormous 
task  of  making  the  world  fit  to  live  in,  comes  next  to 
thinking  and  willing  it.  JVe  can,  is  waste,  unless  It 
leads  on  to  we  will.  I  will  by  itself  is  weak  or  per- 
verse ;  re-enforce  It  then ;  to  say  %ve  will  with  a  million 
voices  for  a  great  and  generous  cause,  for  all  na- 
tions, is  to  become  irresistible. 

In  one  sense  /  will  Is  hopelessly  weak.  This  Is  so 
if  I  will  for  myself.  In  a  higher  sense  there  Is  no 
act  of  the  will  so  grand  and  original  as  when  we  say, 
^'  I  will,"  bidden  by  conscience,  led  by  a  noble  vision, 
warmed  by  a  true  love.  Is  there  any  people  who 
need  this  kind  of  will  power  so  much  as  Americans 
do?  We  have  plenty  of  physical  courage,  as  well- 
fed  men  are  apt  to  have.  From  boyhood  up,  how- 
ever, we  have  little  of  the  courage  of  free  men  — 
the  will  to  stand  up  and  say  what  we  think  when  no 
one  else  says  It,  to  vote  with  a  minority  or  to  vote 
alone,  to  protest  against  an  Injustice  or  cruelty  In 
the  face  of  our  fellows,  our  party,  our  labor  union. 


EDUCATION   FOR  THE  PEOPLE  201 

We  are  mortally  afraid  of  what  people  will  say 
about  us,  of  being  laughed  at,  of  being  unpopular, 
of  losing  trade  and  favor.  Our  legislators  and  Con- 
gressmen are  rarely  corrupt,  but  most  of  them  do 
the  service  of  the  "  grafters."  Astonishingly  few 
of  them  are  strong  enough  to  say  an  independent 
"  I  will  "  for  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The  av- 
erage American  Board  of  Directors  may  have  no  in- 
tention to  wrong  a  rival  company  or  underpay  their 
employees,  but  which  of  them  will  venture  to  offer 
a  reform  of  any  customary  dishonorable  procedure? 
It  was  just  such  lack  of  courage  in  the  Jewish  San- 
hedrin  that  made  them  infamous! 

Has  democracy  possibly  lost  something  that  the 
kings  and  aristocrats  possessed?  Were  these  per- 
haps more  bluntly  truthful,  being  sure  that  no  one 
could  laugh  them  out  of  court?  We  teach  that  a 
man  is  the  peer  of  any  king.  Why  should  he  be 
afraid  to  say  his  honest  thought?  Why  should  the 
citizens  of  a  democracy  always  wait  to  vote  on  the 
popular  side,  careless  whether  it  is  good  or  bad? 
Why  not  train  our  boys  and  girls  to  be  as  fearless  as 
princes  ever  were?  It  is  well  now  and  then  to  say: 
'*  We  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  God." 

We  have  talked  bravely  about  the  free  peoples  of 
the  world,  deeming  ourselves  so  free  as  to  be  able  to 
confer  freedom  upon  the  others.  We  do  not  yet 
understand  what  freedom  is.  We  call  a  people  free 
if  it  has  no  king  or  House  of  Lords.  This  is  the 
shell  of  freedom.  We  propose  a  toast  to  the  health 
of  all  of  the  peoples.     May  they  possess  souls  as 


202  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

free  as  their  bodies  are  free!  We  mean  freedom 
from  fear.  We  mean  freedom  from  vain,  foolish 
desires  and  ambitions,  as  the  disciplined  seaman  is 
free  from  the  fear  of  the  storm.  This  is  the  work 
of  good  education.  The  free  man  has  plenty  of  re- 
sources; he  does  not  need  to  be  dismayed  at  the 
prospect  of  losing  his  money.  He  can  lead  a  happy 
life  with  little  money.  He  Is  not  afraid  of  a  change 
of  government  or  the  coming  of  a  different  indus- 
trial scheme.  He  can  fall  on  his  feet  and  be  useful 
somehow  and  somewhere.  Misunderstanding  and 
persecution  cannot  control  the  movement  of  his  free 
soul.  But  he  cannot  bear  to  see  the  democracy 
playing  the  part  of  the  tyrant  and  checking  the  free 
speech  and  bolder  thought  through  whose  vigor  its 
sons  and  daughters  get  their  needful  practice  In  the 
ways  of  liberty ! 

Do  the  American  people  imagine  that  they  are 
getting  the  education  of  free  men  in  the  public 
schools?  What  If  teachers  have  no  idea  of  true 
liberty?  What  If  teachers  set  the  authority  of  a 
book  or  of  their  own  words  above  the  free  action  of 
the  child's  mind,  his  own  study  of  the  facts,  and  the 
use  of  his  judgment?  What  if  teachers  are  made  to 
stand  In  awe  of  the  officialdom  of  a  system,  to  the 
deprivation  of  their  own  freedom?  What  If  con- 
scientious teachers  are  dismissed  because  in  a  time 
of  war-hysteria  they  kept  a  fair  and  open  mind? 
You  can  never  have  free  schools  where  your  teachers 
are  publicly  discouraged  from  the  exercise  of  free 
souls ! 


EDUCATION   FOR  THE  PEOPLE  203 

Shall  a  democracy  undergo  the  discipline  of  mili- 
tary training?  How  faintly  the  moss-backed  minds 
which  proclaim  the  necessity  of  war  to  teach  hero- 
ism understand  the  spiritual  nature  of  heroism  and 
the  glorious  episodes  of  human  history!  The  brav- 
est of  men  have  always  been  the  lovers  of  men. 
Did  they  have  to  practice  the  art  of  killing  men  in 
order  to  achieve  heroism?  You  may  boast  that  the 
idealism  shown  by  American  youth  in  the  war  was 
beyond  anything  in  military  annals;  yet  this  superb 
courage,  resting  on  a  spiritual  faith,  was  the  pro- 
duct of  a  people  who  had  never  tolerated  military 
discipline  and  had  grown  up  in  the  teachings  of 
peace. 

It  is  absurd  however  to  say  that  a  government 
labelled  a  ''  Republic "  may  not  be  militaristic. 
Suppose  It  holds  colonies  maintained  by  force,  as 
the  United  States  has  held  the  Philippine  Islands. 
It  is  little  that  a  nation  has  democratic  political  in- 
stitutions. If  it  has  Imperialist  annexations,  If  It  has 
an  undemocratic  industrial  system,  if  its  education 
is  not  directed  to  foster  democratic  sentiment  or 
faith.  Suppose  every  child  is  used  to  seeing  march- 
ing troops;  suppose  the  boys  in  every  high  school 
or  college  are  trained  to  handle  rifles  and  shoot 
with  precision.  Suppose  every  great  port  has  its 
frequent  display  of  monster  battleships.  Suppose 
the  histories  in  use  are  weighted  with  the  items  of 
war  and  battles.  What  an  immense  educative  effect 
these  things  have  upon  the  mind  at  its  most  suscepti- 
ble period!     Nothing  can  prevent  this  effect  from 


204  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

being  Inhuman  and  undemocratic.  For  what  pur- 
pose is  this  vast  and  costly  preparation  made?  To 
be  ready  to  kill  men  like  ourselves.  To  defend  our- 
selves against  "  wicked  people,"  our  possible  ene- 
mies, who  are  presumably  educating  their  boys  and 
girls  to  fear  us.  Why  do  not  ministers  of  religion 
protest  against  an  education  which  costs  more  than 
ail  the  rest  of  the  national  expenses,  which  conflicts 
with  and  denies  all  that  churches  and  synagogues 
stand  for !  The  ministers  have  been  drugged  with 
this  miseducation  from  childhood.  Harmonize  it, 
if  you  can,  with  vital  democracy,  with  humanity,  with 
the  essential  teachings  of  religion!  This  is  to  try 
to  force  two  and  two  to  be  five  in  the  spiritual 
realm ! 


Ill 

THE    TESTS    OF    GOOD    EDUCATION 

There  are  certain  tests  of  education  that  enter 
into  no  examinations  for  the  granting  of  degrees. 
The  first  of  these  is  an  open  mind,  candor,  integrity; 
it  is  at  once  the  object,  the  method  and  the  test  of  a 
*'  hberal  education."  What  has  there  been  in  the 
college  work  of  the  most  famous  universities  to  for- 
bid the  graduate  from  turning  out  a  violent  parti- 
san, a  bitter  jingo,  or  a  special  pleader  for  injus- 
tice? Through  the  time  of  the  late  war  university 
professors  bearing  the  most  honored  degrees  have 
been  liable  to  excommunication  from  the  goodly  so- 
ciety of  scholars  unless  their  opinions  were  in  ac- 
cord with  the  prevailing  political  demand.  Thus, 
when  the  utmost  wisdom  was  needed  to  steer  the 
ship  of  state,  all  expert  minority  expression  of  his- 
torians and  philosophers  was  suppressed!  Do  not 
say  that  this  was  owing  to  the  fact  of  the  war.  The 
mischief  lay  deeper.  The  habit  and  the  demand  for 
the  open  mind  did  not  prevail  in  the  universities, 
as  it  did  not  prevail  in  the  churches  and  among  the 
people.  Where  was  any  great  college  president 
standing  to  protest  against  the  suppression  of  truth? 
Where  did  students  catch  the  democratic  note  of 
truth  "  at  any  price  "? 

205 


206  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

The  democracy  deserves  to  be  better  served. 
"  The  truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the 
truth,"  only  yet  conventionally  demanded  in  the 
courts,  professed  to  be  good  for  scholars,  is  not  too 
good  for  the  people.  In  their  name  we  discard  se- 
cret diplomacy;  in  their  name  we  ask  all  governmen- 
tal proceedings  to  be  brought  into  the  light.  No 
little  group  of  officials  shall  be  able  to  misrepresent 
the  conduct  of  a  sister  State  or  our  fair  intentions 
toward  them.  The  villainy  of  the  war  system  could 
never  be  begun  or  carried  on,  except  for  the  mis- 
understanding and  falsehood  of  governmental  peo- 
ple who  have  never  taken  a  degree  in  candor,  open- 
mindedness,  or  humanity.  The  habit  of  fairness  in 
discussion  and  the  love  of  the  truth  better  merit 
the  title  of  a  liberal  education  than  the  possession 
of  academic  honors.  Beware  of  the  man  who  does 
not  wish  to  know  or  to  tell  the  truth,  or  refuses  ever 
to  confess  himself  in  the  w'rong! 

Let  us  set  forth  another  test  of  sound  education. 
What  college  degree  certifies  that  its  holder  can 
keep  his  temper?  We  hold  that  no  man  Is  educated 
who  has  not  control  of  his  temper.  We  ask  as 
much  as  this  of  a  trained  horse  or  dog.  Why  do  we 
not  expect  it  of  educated  men  and  women?  Does 
any  one  reflect  how  largely  the  catastrophes  in  hu- 
man history  and  the  tragedies  in  domestic  life  arise 
from  a  spark  struck  from  a  choleric  or  ugly  temper, 
starting  fire  in  the  ordinary  tinder  of  hasty  wrath 
which  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  "  ladies  and 
gentlemen"    too,    carry    about    with    them?     Why 


THE  TESTS  OF  GOOD   EDUCATION  207 

should  not  kindly  temper,  well  composed  of  thought- 
fulness,  consideration,  and  sympathy,  be  the  greatest 
measure  and  end  of  a  thorough  and  liberal  educa- 
tion, as  well  as  the  practical  man's  most  precious 
asset  for  business,  for  politics,  for  the  molding  of 
public  opinion?  There  will  be  no  more  strikes  or 
occasion  for  strikes  when  we  give  degrees  for  the 
possession  of  good  temper  I  I  do  not  mean  parch- 
ment degrees;  I  mean  a  general  understanding  and 
valuation  of  this  hitherto  rare  power,  and  such  a 
new  insistent  demand  for  it  as  shall  create  the 
supply. 

Our  third  test  of  a  liberal  education  is  the  pos- 
session of  a  generous  public  spirit.  We  boast  of 
our  free  education.  Does  it  carry  no  obligations 
for  public  service  at  the  hands  of  our  millions  of 
school  graduates?  Where  do  five  citizens  in  a  hun- 
dred show  any  public  spirit?  Skeptics  about  de- 
mocracy tell  us  that  at  this  point  it  always  breaks 
down.  People  do  not  care  what  happens  to  their 
State  or  city.  They  are  Indifferent  to  waste  and 
fraud  and  unhygienic  conditions,  and  well  satisfied 
to  be  served  by  clever  rogues.  Is  this  complaint  go- 
ing to  prove  true  after  the  terrible  war?  Will  any 
democractic  nation  again  allow  the  most  momen- 
tous of  all  decisions,  the  declaration  of  war,  to  be 
foisted  upon  them  without  so  much  of  a  plebiscite  as 
they  take  in  a  town  that  lays  out  a  new  highway? 
Shall  we  educate  our  youth  to  make  money  and  not 
to  have  any  interest  in  those  common  affairs  through 
which  the  health  and  wealth,  the  happiness  and  the 


208  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

safety  of  a  state  are  secured?  Our  universities 
surely  have  not  yet  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
success  in  developing  the  public  spirit  of  their  grad- 
uates. 

I  say  these  things  in  no  pessimist  humor.  The 
same  infinite  fund  of  humanity  on  which  the  nation 
drew  for  a  year  of  war  —  the  sense  of  responsibil- 
ity, the  desire  to  do  each  man  his  part  and  be  of 
use,  the  social  and  co-operative  will,  is  ever  with 
us  ready  to  be  tapped.  Shall  we  use  it  to  destroy, 
and  not  learn  to  use  it  for  pure  good  and  the  gen- 
eral welfare?  Shall  we  let  ourselves  be  conscripted 
to  go  to  war,  and  be  too  unintelligent  to  set  the 
beautiful  new  fashion  of  turning  on  the  accumulated 
public  spirit  of  millions  of  enlightened  fellow  cit- 
izens for  the  achievement  of  the  public  ends? 
There  may  well  be  streams  of  various  opinion  to 
create  minor  party  divisions  among  us,  but  why 
should  not  a  democratic  people  move  together,  and 
not  In  opposition  to  one  another,  to  perform  its  vast 
public  tasks? 

A  fourth  point  in  good  education  concerns  the 
valuations  and  desires  of  men.  How  shall  we  rear 
children  to  know  what  the  biggest  and  most  real 
values  are;  what  It  Is  worth  while  to  desire  and 
what  is  comparatively  negligible?  The  law  of  the 
happy  life  is  to  do,  to  give,  to  save,  to  leave  a  better 
society.  Where  do  we  lay  the  just  emphasis  on 
this?  Suppose  we  really  believed  It  In  the  churches! 
Evidently  we  are  going  to  lose  the  best  of  life  If  we 
manage  not  to  put  that  first  of  all  which  alone  is  first. 


THE  TESTS  OF  GOOD  EDUCATION  209 

I  have  tried  in  this  chapter  and  the  one  before 
it  to  answer  the  gravest  of  questions.  Men  cynic- 
ally ask  what  motives  are  adequate  to  keep  man- 
kind up  to  the  mark  of  the  good  life.  Once  you 
could  preach  the  fear  of  hell  and  drive  men  in  the 
path  of  religion.  But  this  motive,  which  never 
made  a  man  good,  hardly  works  at  all  with  the 
modern  man.  It  has  been  said  that  "  the  love  of 
Christ  "  works  to  change  human  lives  from  bad  to 
good.  Grant  gladly  that  the  idea  of  a  grand  com- 
rade or  leader,  conceived  as  walking  with  us  and 
directing  our  way  comes  to  some  men  with  a  de- 
cisive appeal  and  changes  their  lives  to  a  fresh  level 
of  vision  and  conduct;  grant  that  this  is  one  of  the 
forms  in  which  the  supreme  fact  of  the  creative  life 
of  God  appears  to  men;  yet  this  hitherto  has  proved 
an  exceptional  experience.  It  strikes  most  modern 
minds  as  remote  and  mystical.  How  many  of  its 
preachers  show  the  slightest  power  to  carry  it  into 
the  hearts  of  this  vast,  busy,  toiling  world! 

I  believe  that  we  need  and  possess  the  mightiest 
working  motives  for  the  good  life  that  men  ever 
conceived.  Taken  together  they  present  a  universal 
appeal.  They  are  found  in  the  facts  of  life  and  in 
the  happiest  life  experiences  of  all  sorts  of  men  of 
divers  religions.  They  include  freely  whatever 
power  there  is  in  the  memory  of  the  great  historic 
leaders  and  saints,  of  Moses,  of  Jesus,  of  Buddha, 
of  Confucius.  They  go  wider  and  they  take  up 
innumerable  more  humble  memories,  such  as  the 
common  man  carries,  of  loving  parents,  brothers  and 


2IO  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

friends.  They  fit  in  with  profound  human  desires. 
They  have  behind  them,  as  we  are  coming  to  see,  an 
inevitable  necessity.  The  fact  is  that  when  once 
you  deal  with  men  as  men,  nothing  but  these  spir- 
itual motives  —  memories,  ideals,  faiths,  friendships 
—  all  working  toward  the  growth  and  use  of  a  hu- 
mane will,  can  do  the  world's  business.  You  can 
try  every  lower  motive  but  you  will  be  forever 
forced  back  till  you  take  the  single  way  where  life 
runs  freely.  Man,  once  risen  to  see  himself  as  a 
man,  cannot  prosper  —  either  the  individual  or  the 
family  or  the  nation  —  unless  he  functions  as  a 
man  and  not  as  a  brute.  This  is  why  practices  such 
as  slavery,  tyranny  and  war  are  doomed. 

The  methods  fitting  a  better  education  must  al- 
ways wait  on  the  vision  of  what  we  aim  to  secure. 
You  cannot  write  them  rigidly  in  a  book.  Many 
will  recall  the  Httle  story:  "  How  He  Carried  the 
Message  to  Garcia."  The  idea  of  it  was  that  as 
soon  as  the  messenger  put  his  will  upon  his  task,  he 
instinctively  used  every  way  that  would  help  him 
arrive.  So  with  our  educational  processes.  You 
have  an  ideal  of  a  proper  man  or  woman.  All  sorts 
of  excellences  are  united  in  this  ideal.  But  the  es- 
sence of  it  is  a  free,  willing,  purposeful  mind,  seeing 
great  ends  and  seeking  to  do  them.  Parent  or 
teacher  or  school  can  only  assist.  The  life  bubbles 
up  from  within.  Take  away  restraints,  wake  up 
hidden  interests,  give  plenty  of  the  material  of  nur- 
ture. Give  the  open  door  into  literature,  give  field 
for  daily  practice,  stir  the  imagination,  bind  theory 


THE  TESTS  OF  GOOD   EDUCATION  211 

and  practice  together.  Best  of  all,  without  which 
all  the  rest  will  be  barren,  be  yourself,  at  whatever 
price,  the  kind  of  man  or  woman  whom  you  wish  to 
see  prevail  in  the  world.  You  say  the  great  ''  Beat- 
titudes."  Believe  them  then.  They  mark  the  type 
of  mankind  that  "  shall  inherit  the  earth."  Note 
that  word.  It  is  this  earth,  for  which  the  rule  of 
the  gentle,  the  righteous,  the  peacemakers  and  all 
the  others  of  like  friendly  aims  is  destined.  Your 
hope  of  any  life  or  heaven  beyond  is  based  on 
showing  whether  there  can  be  produced  here  that 
which  is  worthy  to  be  preserved. 


IV 

THE   WINNING   OF   THE    WORLD 

Is  veritable  progress  possible?  Can  man  control 
and  direct  it?  This  is  the  hope  of  the  ages;  but 
many  minds  are  anxious  and  doubtful  about  it  to- 
day. The  time  of  greatest  need  has  often  proved 
the  fittest  time  of  deliverance.  The  answer  turns 
largely,  if  not  wholly,  upon  our  faith  in  the  spiritual 
nature  of  the  world  to  which  the  nature  of  man  re- 
acts. "  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?  '* 
If  the  stars  in  their  courses  are  in  tune  with  the  laws 
of  justice,  we  have  everything  to  hope. 

The  movement  of  the  world  as  related  to  human 
progress  has  hitherto  been  like  a  drift.  But  this  is 
not  to  say  that  the  drift  has  had  no  general  and  posi- 
tive direction.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  be  as 
markedly  directed  in  its  slow  and  cumbrous  motion 
as  is  the  vast  drift  of  the  solar  system,  or  the  growth 
and  development  of  a  child.  As  if  to  prove  that 
man  is  in  some  true  sense  a  son  of  the  Mind  of  the 
Universe,  and  especially  of  the  Eternal  Goodness,  the 
drift  of  human  progress  has  surely  been  toward  a 
prevailing  sense  of  humanity.  The  great  war  makes 
this  not  less,  but  more,  certain.  The  war  has  set 
millions  to  thinking  what  to  do  together  after  the 
war,  and  not  alone  for  two  or  three  belligerent  na- 

212 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WORLD  213 

tions,  but  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  remote 
islands  and  of  darkest  Africa.  What  can  we  do 
together  to  establish  democratic  civilization? 

Grant  that  the  law  of  the  brute  world  worked 
first  through  constant  experiment  and  venture,  un- 
der pressure  of  the  environment  upon  every  creature 
and  race.  But  the  birth  of  consciousness  alters  this 
earlier  law.  The  urging  life  is  now  within,  not  only 
answering  back  to  its  surroundings,  but  also  becom- 
ing sensitive  and  gathering  to  itself  ancestral  habits 
and  instincts  and  so  creating  a  headway  and  momen- 
tum of  intelligence.  Consciousness  gives  the  creat- 
ure a  share  in  the  process  of  molding  its  life. 

The  wonder  of  wonders  is  that  man  asks  and 
cannot  help  asking  what  he  is  here  for,  and  what 
Hfe  is.  "What  is  the  chief  end  of  man?"  No 
other  creature  asks  this.  The  wonder  is  not  less  but 
more  when  man  goes  on  to  find  an  answer  and  to 
crown  himself  a  "  son  of  God."  It  is  not  the  arro- 
gant who  do  this:  it  is  the  meek  or  modest.  It  is 
not  answered  in  haughty  self-sufficiency,  but  in  su- 
preme independence.  No  royal  career  ever  imag- 
ined was  so  grand  as  the  aim  of  the  common  man 
who  wills  to  live  so  as  to  share  the  thoughts  of  per- 
fect justice,  to  discover  truth,  and  to  help  bring  in 
the  reign  of  a  universal  democratic  commonwealth ! 
In  one  way  or  another  many  men  now  steer  their  way 
by  this  aim.  Imagine  what  a  thousand  men  and 
women  in  every  capital  of  the  world,  determined 
upon  this  intent,  might  do  to  accomplish  it !  Its  few 
obvious  guiding  words,  like  so  many  stars  in  a  con- 


214  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

stellation,  are  Democracy,  Civilization,  Co-opera- 
tion, Good  Will,  Humanity.  Well  understood,  each 
and  all  of  them  bring  the  same  message.  Individ- 
uals have  dared  to  try  to  apply  them  to  smaller 
quests,  to  shaping  the  future  of  single  nations,  to  the 
systematic  planning  of  worthy  cities  for  every  one's 
children,  to  the  conduct  of  vast  possessions  by  the 
guidance  of  the  expert  "  social  engineer,"  to  the  re- 
construction of  religion  into  a  church  which  shall  ex- 
clude no  truthful  mind  and  shall  make  all  human  be- 
ings welcome.  All  these  visions  and  endeavors 
point  the  same  way.  We  soon  find  that  we  must 
take  over  the  organization  of  the  world  into  our 
programme.  All  lesser  plans  belong  really  to  this 
larger  one.  All  nations  wait  for  the  coming  of  the 
universal  commonwealth.  Kings  fall  from  their 
thrones  and  give  up  their  palaces  to  make  ready  for 
the  peoples.  Men  of  diverse  tongues  are  seeking  to 
get  at  each  other  in  a  speech  which  all  races  may 
know.  Congresses  of  scientists,  physicians,  hygien- 
ists,  working  men,  suffragists,  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, Federations  of  Churches,  cross  the  oceans  out 
of  this  common  interest. 

The  development  of  a  profound  idea  cannot  be 
too  closely  defined,  or  reduced  to  too  rigid  details. 
It  is  enough  if  we  distinguish  pretty  clearly  the  great 
highlands  for  which  we  steer.  Any  man  of  ordinary 
vision  ought  now  to  see  them.  Who  that  possesses 
decent  humanity  can  hesitate  to  contribute  his  meas- 
ure of  devotion  to  reach  them? 

First,  we  must  seek  to  establish  a  far  better  politi- 


THE  WIISTNING  OF  THE  WORLD  215 

cal  democracy  than  the  United  States  or  any  other 
country  has  ever  had.  The  present  unthinking 
temper  of  multitudes  of  Americans  does  not  promise 
for  a  long  period  ahead  to  make  democratic  liber- 
ties safe.  Most  men  seem  to  Imagine  a  mysterious 
virtue  In  the  act  of  voting:  they  worship  a  majority, 
however  dishonestly  secured  or  conscripted.  They 
fall  to  see  how  overbearing  and  cruel  a  majority  may 
be;  they  do  not  understand  that  the  will  of  however 
large  a  multitude  can  no  more  make  an  action  or 
choice  right  than  an  Emperor's  armies  or  the  angry 
outcry  of  a  mob.  In  many  cases,  however,  our 
present  machinery  is  not  right.  It  gives  the  least 
possible  freedom  to  develop  independence  and  to 
bring  able  and  disinterested  leadership  to  the  front. 
It  does  not  begin  fairly  to  represent  different  groups 
and  Interests  among  the  people.  Its  prevailing  bi- 
partisanship is  deadening.  Proportional  represen- 
tation is  coming  to  be  seen  as  the  most  Important 
piece  of  progressive  and  democratic  machinery  to 
secure  a  just  representative  government.  Already 
its  presence  or  absence  in  a  state  or  city  is  a  test 
of  the  democratic  thoughtfulness  of  the  electorate. 
Why  should  the  socialists  in  the  United  States  be 
without  a  vote  in  the  national  Senate?  Why 
should  so  great  an  Interest  as  the  schools  and  uni- 
versities have  no  representative  In  Congress  and  the 
state  Legislatures?  You  must  give  the  good  spirit 
a  chance  to  breathe  and  utter  itself,  or  it  cannot 
thrive. 

Next,  Is  It  not  evident  that  we  must  immediately 


2l6  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

enlist  a  great  crusade  not  merely  to  prevent  war,  but 
to  abolish  it  altogether?  War  is  the  denial  of  valid 
democracy  at  every  point.  The  free  nation,  going 
armed,  at  once  sets  up  autocracy.  Its  President, 
with  however  great  powers  innocent  enough  as  an 
elected  civilian  administrator,  once  made  comman- 
der-in-chief of  an  army  and  navy,  becomes  an  im- 
perial personage.  Every  one  knows  how  abnormal 
power  of  any  sort  over  men,  worst  of  all  over  fight- 
ing forces,  tends  toward  arrogance  in  the  man  who 
possesses  it.  Even  the  carrying  of  deadly  weapons 
is  a  disorderly  element,  altering  the  face,  the  tone, 
the  nature.  Few  can  resist  it.  No  army  can  be 
democratic.  For  the  function  of  an  army  is  to  kill 
men;  whereas  the  foundation  of  democracy  is  hu- 
man respect.  It  is  impossible  to  have  such  respect 
in  men's  hearts  and  at  the  same  time  to  go  out  on 
expeditions  to  shoot  other  men  and  blow  up  their 
cities. 

Of  course,  the  simple  and  natural  way  to  get  rid 
of  war  is  to  disarm  altogether.  A  society  of  free 
nations  made  up  of  democratic  people  obviously  has 
no  need  of  armaments  to  fight  one  another.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  weary,  sorrowful,  bruised 
world  might  have  had  enough  of  the  lesson  of  the 
Great  War  to  see  the  egregious  futility  of  militarism 
and  to  abolish  it.  It  Is  more  than  possible  that 
every  other  people  might  be  willing  to  heed  an  hon- 
est call  from  the  United  States,  as  the  boasted  cham- 
pion of  the  democratic  cause,  to  disarm  at  once.  If 
Americans  could  say,  *'  We  are  willing,"  why  should 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WORLD  217 

not  the  rest  be  willing  too?  If  we  are  not  willing, 
who  will  be?  Why  should  we  not  be  more  than 
willing?  Is  it  possible  that  the  fears,  the  suspi- 
cions, the  jealousies,  the  hate,  the  subtle  arrogance 
of  men  in  power,  the  feebleness  and  timidity  of 
churches,  and  the  national  pride,  which  have  always 
permitted  and  created  wars,  are  flowing  in  a  fuller 
tide  than  ever  before?  We  have  suffered  a  fetich 
worship  of  nationalism  and  patriotism  sweeping  like 
a  disease  over  the  earth.  The  real  democracy  in  a 
people,  on  the  contrary,  is  in  inverse  ratio  to  nation- 
alist pride  and  fervor.  For  the  lover  of  men,  how- 
ever loyally  he  seeks  the  welfare  of  his  own  State, 
cares  least  of  all  things  where  his  neighbor  was  born 
or  what  race  he  belongs  to.  Neither  does  he  dream 
of  confining  his  neighborly  interest  within  the  chang- 
ing boundary  lines  of  a  map. 

If  now  we  discover  that  the  world,  and  even  the 
most  favored  nation  in  it,  like  the  ruined  cities  of 
old,  still  insists  upon  putting  its  trust  in  horses  and 
chariots,  in  submarines  and  airplanes,  if  pride  still 
"  rules  our  will,"  all  the  more  clearly  rises  the  call  of 
our  duty  to  establish  a  new  party,  a  new  enterprise, 
and  to  use  every  possible  effort  to  break  down  the 
war  system.  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  long  the  hon- 
ored President  of  Harvard  College,  once  raised  the 
question  whether  any  religion  had  yet  set  itself  to  put 
an  end  to  war?  This  question  has  hitherto  had  to 
be  shamefully  answered,  "  No :  except  a  few  small 
sects."  This  fact  sets  the  new  task  for  a  living 
church   In  the   realm  of  practical   '*  Christian   En- 


2l8  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

deavor."  What  veto  are  American  churches  now 
going  to  urge  to  our  renewed  military  and  naval  ex- 
penditures, to  the  proposed  universal  military  train- 
ing, to  the  menace  of  conscription,  to  the  suppression 
of  minority  thought,  to  the  cruelty  of  treatment  and 
the  severity  of  the  punishments,  made  possible  under 
a  militaristic  regime,  of  men  whose  single  crime  was 
that  they  had  taken  in  earnest  the  famous  beatitude : 
"  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers!  "  These  questions 
are  of  practical  moment  to  men  who  believe  in  re- 
ligion. 

Again,  we  want  a  League  of  Nations.  What 
kind  of  league?  Shall  it  be  organized  and  com- 
pelled by  force,  as  many  assure  us?  Shall  every 
member  of  it  maintain  its  army?  Shall  warships 
continue  to  make  the  seas  perilous?  In  short,  shall 
we  build  Into  our  international  temple  the  old-world 
ill-tempered  mortar  of  mutual  fear  and  distrust? 
What  strong  word  has  democracy  or  religion  to  op- 
pose to  this  truly  pagan  proposition,  fortified  by 
great  names  of  "statesmen"  and  teachers?  Can 
we  command  so  little  wisdom,  determination,  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  history  as  to  begin 
our  enterprise  with  threats  of  economic  and  military 
force  and  the  programme  of  a  continued  war  estab- 
lishment, "  camouflaged  "  under  the  name  of  interna- 
tional police?  Be  assured.  If  we  are  not  yet  ready 
to  form  a  friendly  league  of  equals.  If  we  must  wait 
upon  it  with  loaded  guns,  if  we  cannot  be  trusted  or 
trust  others  to  give  and  to  expect  fair  treatment,  if 
we  will  not  do  ourselves  what  we  wish  smaller  na- 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WORLD  219 

tlons  to  do,  our  failure  will  not  be  the  fault  of  the 
plain  peoples  and  the  workers  of  the  world,  but 
rather  of  the  sophisticated  and  Pharisee  class,  the 
Tories  and  the  conservatives,  always  more  careful 
for  considerations  of  wealth  than  for  human  wel- 
fare, and  blind  as  usual  to  democratic  and  spiritual 
issues.  Here  is  the  opportunity  for  a  living  church. 
What  does  it  live  for  except  to  convert  the  wills  of 
men  to  follow  its  shining  ideals  ? 

Again,  there  is  no  civilization  which  keeps  up  bar- 
riers between  its  various  peoples.  You  can  measure 
the  degree  of  civilization  by  this  test.  To  break 
down  the  barriers  between  the  peoples  is  at  the  same 
time  good  political  economy  and  real  religion.  We 
want  a  world  on  which  no  custom-house  shall  rear 
its  forbidding  walls.  We  want  no  more  forts  to 
bar  us  from  one  another.  The  ugly  forts  now 
match  the  tariff  barriers.  We  collect  duties  in  order 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  war.  We  should  never  need 
the  tariff  revenues  if  we  would  scuttle  the  battle- 
ships. These  institutions  stands  to  perpetuate  di- 
visive jealousies  and  greed.  Both  of  them  rest  upon 
ignorance  of  industrial  laws  and  of  human  nature. 
If  trade  is  mutual,  as  it  must  be  to  live,  why  then 
do  we  wish  to  confine  It?  If  we  are  in  any  real 
sense,  of  "  one  blood  "  with  Europeans  and  Asiatics, 
as  we  profess  to  be,  then  it  Is  inhumane  to  be  afraid 
to  share  our  good  gifts  and  products  with  them. 
We  have  been  ready  to  feed  them  In  a  time  of  world 
catastrophe.     But  freedom  of  trade  with  them  Is 


2  20  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY, 

the  natural  way  of  sharing  our  gifts ;  It  is  kinder  than 
charity. 

One  more  immense  world  problem  will  suffice  here 
to  illustrate  the  new  task  of  steering  the  course  of 
human  progress.  Hundreds  of  millions  of  people 
in  various  parts  of  the  earth,  largely  in  Africa,  have 
never  been  counted  as  civilized.  Even  where,  as  in 
South  America,  they  have  had  the  forms  of  modern 
government,  they  have  been  too  lUiterate  to  know 
the  difference  between  a  republic  and  a  despotism. 
A  half  dozen  imperialistic  governments  have  cast 
the  eyes  of  cupidity  upon  those  backward  regions, 
and  eager  commercial  adventurers  have  competed  to 
exploit  the  lands  and  peoples.  The  Great  War 
would  not  have  broken  out  except  for  this  provoking 
cause,  for  competing  "  spheres  of  influence,"  for  col- 
onies where  white  men  would  not  emigrate. 

What  will  the  League  of  Nations  do  to  protect 
backward  peoples  from  the  avarice  and  cruelty  of 
the  powerful  and  unscrupulous,  to  further  the  ad- 
vancement of  all  such  people  toward  a  place  of  re- 
spect in  the  family  of  nations  and,  again,  to  forbid 
imperialistic  greed  from  ever  starting  a  conflagra- 
tion in  the  world?  Here  is  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  a  veritable  religion.  The  Monroe  Doctrine 
is  only  one  branch  of  this  larger  issue.  As  a  merely 
American  doctrine  it  has  become  a  source  of  danger. 
The  States  south  of  us  have  no  use  for  it.  In  the 
establishment  of  a  genuine  and  friendly  League  of 
Nations  we  shall  never  have  use  for  it.  It  becomes 
therefore  of  singular  and  momentous  consequence  to 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WORLD  221 

us  what  kind  of  a  League  of  Nations  we  propose  to 
form.  Shall  we  form  it  In  fear  and  jealousy? 
Shall  we  make  it  a  new  peril  to  the  world?  Or  shall 
we  leave  the  seeds  of  war  altogether  out  of  it? 
Shall  we  use  instead  the  best  and  most  democratic 
leadership  in  every  nation,  the  men  of  the  people, 
the  kindly,  the  just,  as  its  chosen  administrators  and 
advisers?  Shall  we  use  the  democratic  method  of 
persuasion,  or  fall  back  upon  the  mischievous  old 
means  of  compulsion?  The  proposed  League  it- 
self is  hardly  more  important  than  the  growth  of  a 
nobler  public  opinion,  without  which  no  organization 
can  fulfill  its  expectations.  We  have  In  the  next 
chapter  to  consider  certain  immense  changes  that 
democratic  ideas  are  making  In  the  nature  of  every 
government.  Our  League  of  Nations  will  be  seen 
to  take  on  a  different  form  In  view  of  this  alteration 
of  the  aim,  the  method,  and  the  function  of  gov- 
ernment. 


V 


DEMOCRATIC    GOVERNMENT   AND   THE 
WORLD   ORDER 

We  need,  In  the  light  of  the  new  vision  of  a  hu- 
mane type  of  man,  a  new  set  of  words  and  phrases 
in  our  ethics  and  our  religion,  and  specially  a  new 
understanding  of  the  popular  words  concerning  gov- 
ernment. The  inevitable  working  of  the  evolution- 
ary movement  changes  the  nature  of  all  govern- 
ments. This  upward  movement,  beginning  In  the 
case  of  men  as  with  all  other  animals  In  the  region 
of  force,  conflict  and  struggle  to  live,  at  first  ruth- 
less of  antagonists,  becoming  gradually  softened  by 
mother  love  and  the  love  of  children  Into  a  sense 
of  mutual  aid  and  co-operation,  grows  now  to  a  point 
where  unexpectedly  the  higher  spiritual  principle 
takes  precedence  over  the  brutal  Impulses.  Brute 
force  gives  way  to  the  superior  rule  of  humanity, 
good  will,  love.  It  Is  like  one  of  the  surprises 
worked  In  things;  for  Instance,  in  the  change  of 
water  to  steam,  when  the  mere  increase  of  heat 
brings  to  pass  a  seemingly  new  substance,  invisible, 
but  acting  with  all  the  more  effectiveness.  This  Is 
the  nature  of  evolution  as  It  works  in  the  realm  of 
the  spirit. 

The  old-fashioned  view  was  that  all  government 

222 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  223 

rests  ultimately  upon  the  use  of  compelling  force; 
this  still  hypnotizes  the  minds  of  many  men  who 
ought  to  know  better.  The  word  govern  itself 
seems  to  carry  by  derivation  the  idea  that  one  or  a 
few  steer,  rule  or  command,  and  others  obey.  The 
divine  government  is  thus  the  management  of  a  pun- 
ishing lawgiver  who  enforces  his  will  upon  the  world. 
His  subjects  must  obey  willy-nilly  or  suffer  his  anger. 
The  family  is  a  little  government  on  the  same  pat- 
tern —  the  parents  or  perhaps  the  male  parent,  be- 
ing the  master  with  his  ultimate  right  to  break  the 
will  of  a  rebellious  child.  Even  when  we  have  se- 
cured the  forms  of  a  republic,  we  have  usually  had 
a  ruling  oligarchy,  or  partisan  machine  representing 
by  no  means  all  the  people,  but  rather  a  thoroughly 
bourgeois  group  holding  the  forces  of  the  State 
to  work  their  will.  It  is  the  same  barbaric  notion 
of  the  ultimate  right  of  men  to  compel  each  other  by 
force  that  survives  in  the  prevalent  worship  of  demo- 
cratic majorities.  Thus  it  is  commonly  assumed, 
as  in  the  late  war,  that  a  mere  majority  —  very 
apt  to  be  a  noisy  minority  —  by  its  weight  of  num- 
bers, may  impose  its  will  upon  the  rest  of  the  people, 
may,  for  instance,  drag  a  nation  into  war  and  com- 
mand unwilling  millions  to  hold  another  people  as 
their  enemies.  They  may  adopt  a  system  of  con- 
scription and  force  men  to  fight  against  their  con- 
science or  else  suffer  the  penalties  of  criminals  or 
traitors.  What  else  is  this  than  the  inhuman  heresy 
that  "might  makes  right"?  Not  Kaisers  nor  the 
bourgeois  alone  hold  this,  but  all  men  who  think 


224  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

that  the  counting  of  votes  entitles  them  to  force  a 
religion,  a  change  of  government,  or  an  industrial 
system  upon  a  nation,  and  in  fact  upon  the  world, 
before  the  peoples  actually  understand  what  is  being 
done  with  them  I 

Against  every  use  of  force  to  compel  men's  wills 
the  democratic  ideal  rises  clear.  Democracy  is  fun- 
damentally based  on  respect,  not  for  the  mere  ani- 
mal man,  but  the  moral  or  spiritual  man,  the  thinker, 
the  lover,  the  friend.  This  is  no  cheap  assertion  of 
the  equality  of  mankind.  Indeed  only  on  the  hu- 
man or  spiritual  level  is  there  equality.  It  is  the 
kind  of  equality  with  which  a  parent  loves  and  re- 
spects his  children.  Beneath  their  differences  lies 
the  priceless  common  nature  which  all  share. 

The  line  of  demarkatlon  falls  at  this  point  be- 
tween the  old  world  and  the  new,  between  barbar- 
ism and  civilization,  between  every  kind  of  tyranny 
and  the  Incoming  spirit  of  democracy.  On  one  side 
is  the  rule  of  force  and  the  will  to  compel,  and  on 
the  other  side  —  not  so  much  the  rule  as  the  co-op- 
eration of  good  wills  acting  together.  The  depen- 
dence henceforth  Is  upon  reason,  persuasion,  enlight- 
enment, a  friendly  attitude,  such  faith  in  other 
men's  humanity  as  we  wish  others  to  show  to  us, 
and  a  prevailing  good  will  toward  all.  No  wonder 
that  this  kind  of  change  seems  at  first  like  a  mira- 
cle, and  that  men  laugh  at  it.  But  no  one  can  deny 
that  it  Is  the  only  possible  evolutionary  movement 
that  befits  our  nature  as  men.  Democracy  is  the 
way  of  the  normal  human  life.     Moreover,  when 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  225 

you  have  once  Introduced  Its  leaven  Into  human  so- 
ciety, you  have  made  the  rule  of  force  intolerable. 
You  have  installed  an  insatiable  hunger  and  thirst 
after  more  and  more  complete  democracy.  Force, 
threats,  compulsion,  conscription,  war  are  now 
doomed. 

Every  home  and  school  and  club  and  labor  union 
and  State  is  feeling  the  pressure  of  this  coming  de- 
mocracy. Everywhere  government  changes  its 
meaning.  It  Is  becoming  an  arrangement  of  mutual 
aid;  we  are  asked  to  do  together  whatever  makes 
for  the  benefit  of  all.  The  family  is  not  now  an 
aristocracy  but  a  little  commonwealth.  The  school 
is  a  training  ground  for  a  co-operative  city  or  nation. 
The  will  of  the  leader,  the  parent,  the  teacher,  the 
Governor  or  President  or  guiding  committee,  is  sim- 
ply to  help  all  to  act  for  the  welfare  of  all.  So  far 
as  the  use  of  force,  for  example,  of  the  mother  for 
the  sake  of  the  child,  or  the  State  over  the  feeble- 
minded, still  inheres  in  every  human  institution,  It  Is 
now  subordinated  to  the  main  purpose  —  not  the 
mere  consent  of  the  governed,  obliged  to  obey,  but 
the  active  and  willing  co-operation  of  the  whole  body, 
each  unit  taking  Its  share  in  the  common  enterprise. 
Even  the  ideal  of  a  Divine  Government  of  the  world 
changes  now  in  the  direction  of  a  spiritual  common- 
wealth of  fellow  citizens,  In  training  to  be  friends 
and  helpers  wherever  social  beings  live.  The  Al- 
mighty, we  modestly  conceive,  wishes  no  conscripts 
or  mercenaries !  He  lays  down  no  laws  except  such 
as  are  in  his  own  nature,  as  they  are  in  man.     That 


226  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

is,  he  does  always  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  what 
we  like  to  do  at  our  best.  He  shows  forth  his  good 
will,  hke  his  beauty.  He  compels  no  man  to  obey, 
except  so  far  as  the  law  of  righteousness,  being  the 
way  of  life,  is  itself  felt  within  us  as  a  general  and 
inevitable  urgency  to  obey  an  ideal. 

Does  not  this  view,  however,  border  closely  upon 
anarchy?  Not  at  all.  Where  does  respect  for  men 
breed  discord  and  conflict?  Where  does  good  will 
stir  men  to  rob  and  kill?  Try  it  and  see.  It  has 
even  been  made  to  work  in  prisons;  it  certainly 
works  everywhere  to  put  prisons  out  of  commission 
and  to  make  punishment  a  misnomer. 

The  relation  between  the  government  with  its 
claim  of  sovereignity  and  the  individual  citizen  and 
his  claim  to  freedom  never  becomes  clear  till  we 
take  the  point  of  view  of  essential  or  spiritual  de- 
mocracy. Even  in  the  time  of  Ahab  or  Nero  there 
was  no  question  for  a  preacher  of  righteousness  as 
to  where  the  lines  of  obedience  ran.  The  obedience 
due  from  a  free  soul,  a  Son  of  God,  to  truth  or  duty, 
carried  precedence  over  every  outward  decree  of 
the  State.  Sophocles'  '*  Antigone  "  puts  this  splen- 
didly. What  does  the  State  itself  exist  for,  except 
for  the  development  and  fulfillment  of  a  fearless  man- 
hood? One  of  the  counts  against  war  is  that,  in  the 
chaos  of  arms,  men  and  governments  lose  their  sense 
of  the  meaning  and  value  of  manhood.  They  make 
a  man  a  mere  means,  like  a  stick  of  dynamite,  for 
securing  the  ends  of  the  governing  body.     War  de- 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  227 

pends  upon  a  pagan  and  imperialist  conception  of 
the  State,  whose  sovereignty  is  by  virtue  of  superior 
might.  The  Republic  which  proceeds  on  this  claim 
is  presently  guilty  of  the  same  crimes  and  barbarities 
against  the  personality  and  freedom  of  its  citizens 
which  it  blames  in  the  autocratic  ruler.  The  process 
is  almost  mysteriously  subtle  in  debasing  the  public 
conscience.  Multitudes  become  infected  with  the 
old  notion  that  the  State  —  their  State  —  can  do  no 
wrong.  Men  come  to  believe  that  what  the  State 
decrees  is  therefore  right.  Dearly  indeed  must  a 
State  pay  the  cost  of  laying  aside,  not  so  much  its 
written  constitution,  as  the  deeper  principles  which 
build  all  stable  human  institutions  upon  respect  for 
the  sacred  nature  of  manhood. 

I  wish  especially  to  show  the  bearing  of  this  teach- 
ing upon  our  thought  of  national  and  international 
government.  The  master  anarchists  of  the  world 
have  not  been  the  extreme  individualists  —  generally 
a  mild  and  kindly  group  —  or  a  few  desperate  nihil-- 
ists  goaded  to  revolution  under  the  whip  of  tyranny, 
or  even  a  still  fewer  half-crazy  bomb-throwers,  but 
the  great  nations  of  Christendom.  Keeping  up  the 
war  system  as  a  respectable  institution,  blessed  by 
prayers  and  provided  with  chaplains,  they  have  set 
the  horrid  example  of  destroying  their  enemies; 
they  have  invented  the  use  of  bombs  and  subma- 
rines and  fighting  aeroplanes.  The  war  system  is 
the  everlasting  foe  of  democracy  —  the  denier  of 
the  rights  of  man  and  the  constant  menace  to  his 


2  28  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

liberties.  The  arming  of  men  with  murderous 
weapons  makes  a  transformation  in  their  nature  and 
starts  up  every  root  of  arrogance  or  cruelty  In  them. 
Dress  a  thousand  men  in  uniform,  give  them  rifles, 
make  them  march  as  one  man,  and  they  are  not  the 
same  men  as  they  were  before.  They  have  a  des- 
perate and  bloody  purpose;  they  are  thinking  of  ene- 
mies; they  are  ready  to  believe  lies  of  their  neigh- 
bor nations;  they  are  fed  on  falsity  and  exaggera- 
tions ;  they  have  become  other  than  their  best  selves. 
The  noblest  men  suffer  from  the  brutalizing  poison. 
It  is  not  normal  to  hate;  it  is  inhuman  to  kill;  it  is 
demoralizing  to  punish  other  men.  All  the  great 
nations  up  to  this  date  have  been  the  anarchist  forces 
of  the  world.  They  have  incorporated  the  divisive 
war  system  Into  their  constitution,  defended  Its  use, 
and  done  the  least  possible  to  put  an  end  to  it.  No 
wonder  that  straight-thinking  men  have  questioned 
whether  the  governmental  people  do  not  cost  more 
than  they  are  worth.  And  they — the  real  anarch- 
ists —  have  had  the  face  to  shoot  their  own  citizens 
for  the  man-made  crime  of  opposing  war !  What 
governments  have  not  been  built  on  the  pagan  foun- 
dation of  force  and  compulsion? 

It  Is  no  wonder  that  our  own  government  fell  into 
the  bad  company  of  the  nations  from  whom  It  had 
recruited  its  population.  It  began  by  a  war  of  re- 
bellion to  establish  its  own  Independence.  It  put 
down  Its  minority  of  loyalists  with  an  iron  hand  and 
made  their  names  odious.  I  speak  In  no  blame. 
Few  in  that  time  knew  any  better  way.     We  taught 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  229 

generations  of  children  to  glory  in  the  wars  of  pa- 
triotism. We  waged  an  unrighteous  war  to  acquire 
territory  from  our  weaker  neighbor,  Mexico.  Hav- 
ing taken  over  the  doctrine  that  a  nation  must  rely 
on  might  to  get  its  will,  having  educated  our  young 
men  at  West  Point  to  lead  soldiers  to  battle,  send- 
ing partisans  to  Congress,  on  one  side  to  denounce 
the  wickedness  of  slavery,  and  on  the  other  side  to 
threaten  disunion,  we  fell  irresistibly  into  the  bloody 
struggle  of  the  Civil  War.  ^  So  little  had  we  yet 
learned  of  co-operative  democracy,  and  human  re- 
spect !  So  far  was  the  setting  up  of  an  external  or 
a  political  machinery,  called  a  Republic,  from  the 
understanding  of  thorough  and  humane  democracy! 
The  old-world  governments  had  always  meddled 
with  the  affairs  of  their  neighbors.  America  took 
over  the  habit.  President  Cleveland  actually  threat- 
ened the  world  with  a  war  against  England  over 
a  boundary  dispute  in  a  South  American  wilderness ! 
He  tuned  the  fighting  blood  of  the  world  to  a  quick- 
ened rate;  henceforth  we  made  louder  call  for  fight- 
ing ships  and  every  great  and  small  power  took 
notice.  The  Spanish  War  followed  as  if  it  had  been 
an  act  in  a  drama.  We  know  now  how  needless  it 
was.  The  great  Republic,  joining  the  list  of  im- 
perial nations,  with  its  new  and  distant  dependen- 
cies, held  by  garrisons,  now  stirred  the  world  with 
the  fever  of  fighting  and  force.     What  nation  must 

1  We  did  incidentally  kill  slavery,  but  we  did  not,  and  could  not, 
establish  the  doctrine  that  a  majority  has  the  right  to  compel  a  State 
to  remain  in  the  Union  against  its  decided  will;  and  later  President 
Roosevelt  encouraged  and  took  advantage  of  the  right  of  secession 
in  the  case  of  Panama. 


230  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

not  have  more  battleships  now  that  America  had 
set  the  new  pace?  See  meanwhile  what  the  United 
States  had  done  with  its  resources  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  national  government  to  the  year  1908. 
Out  of  more  than  seventeen  and  a  half  billion  dol- 
lars, it  had  spent  for  wars  and  the  preparations  for 
wars,  and  for  vast  war  pensions  twelve  and  a  half 
of  its  billions,  as  against  less  than  five  billion  dollars 
for  everything  else !  Neither  do  we  here  include 
the  payment  of  interest  upon  debts  whose  only  ex- 
cuse was  war  necessity. 

And  now  we  all  cry  out  at  the  horrors  of  a  war 
of  which  every  continent  has  shared  the  sufferings. 
Grant  the  inevitability  with  which  we  were  dragged 
Into  the  bloody  maelstrom.  The  war  was  inevitable 
because  we  had  prepared  for  it  as  all  the  nations  had 
done,  as  a  company  of  drinkers  prepare  themselves 
for  an  orgy,  unable  to  put  away  the  thirst  in  their 
veins.  We  had  prepared  for  it  in  our  thinking  and 
our  ideas  about  national  honor  and  the  need  of 
might  to  keep  right  on  the  throne.  In  all  our  talk 
of  the  rights  of  the  people  we  had  never  thought  to 
provide  for  the  popular  decision  of  the  most  momen- 
tous act  in  the  life  of  a  nation.  On  the  contrary  we 
had  loaded  our  chief  executive  with  the  autocratic 
functions  and  forces  of  the  greatest  of  Kaisers  In  the 
face  of  war.  By  a  word,  by  a  blunder,  he  could  set 
off  the  cannon  and  kill  Mexican  boys  In  Vera  Cruz. 
Despite  the  sworn  duty  of  legislators  to  serve  the 
people,  the  tradition  had  grown  that  Congress  must 
serve  and  support  a  President  In  the  act  of  war. 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  231 

The  most  splendid  opportunity  ever  given  to  a 
man  or  to  a  nation  was  given  in  19 14  to  America  to 
keep  an  open  mind,  to  remain  the  constant  friend 
of  all  the  peoples,  to  use  its  immense  leverage  imme- 
diately upon  the  statesmen  of  the  warring  peoples, 
to  keep  the  fire  from  spreading,  to  make  this  the  last 
war,  to  use  its  treasures  to  save  life  rather  than  to 
kill.  This  could  not  be.  The  mind,  the  attitude, 
the  spirit,  the  humanity,  were  lacking.  We  had  not 
prepared  for  world  peace.  We  were  a  nation  of 
willing  munition-makers.  We  allowed  ourselves  to 
grow  rich  while  others  went  bankrupt.  Shall  it  ever 
be  so  again? 

They  used  to  say  that  no  nation  could  endure 
"  half  slave  and  half  free."  It  was  true.  We  have 
put  slavery  away;  a  new  and  similar  lesson  comes 
to-day.  A  nation  cannot  stand,  erected  half  on  force 
and  half  on  a  democratic  foundation.  We  have 
tried  this  experiment  too  long.  The  new  issue  Is 
even  more  profound  than  was  that  over  the  exist- 
ence of  slavery.  The  free  and  democratic  nation 
Is  a  grander  construction  than  men  have  imagined. 
Read,  for  example,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  thought  embedded  there  is  to  "  estab- 
lish justice.  Insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty."  The  emphasis 
here  Is  protection  from  danger  and  relief  from  the 
fears  that  attended  the  chaotic  old  world — fear 
for  the  citizen's  property.  Including  his  slaves;  fear 
lest  men,  our  own  fellow  citizens,  might  rise  In  re- 


232  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

bellion  and  destroy  their  own  government;  fear  of 
other  states  north  and  south;  fear  of  the  Indians  on 
the  frontier;  but  especially  fear  at  the  hands  of  for- 
eigners, counting  as  foreign  the  very  nations  from 
which  our  people  had  come  here,  lest  they  attack 
us  and  subject  us  to  alien  rule.  Thus  "  the  more 
perfect  union  "  was  to  provide  strength  for  defence. 
What  a  wild  world  it  seemed  to  our  fathers!  It 
was  only  a  little  margin  back  to  the  days  when  the 
chief  business  of  every  little  city  was  likewise  to 
maintain  walls  and  protect  itself  from  bandits  or 
pirates.  We  laid  our  national  foundations  mostly 
in  barbarism  and  expended  our  substance  in  reliev- 
ing our  fears.  Our  fears  grew  with  our  growth. 
We  have  lived  to  see  billions  of  wealth  and  millions 
of  precious  lives  lavished  on  this  slave's  work  of 
protection. 

We  laid  a  single  corner-stone  In  our  constitution 
toward  our  democratic  Ideal  In  writing,  "  to  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare."  What  did  we  do  In  a 
hundred  years  for  the  general  welfare?  The  na- 
tional government  has  carried  the  mails  for  us  rather 
inefficiently,  and  with  a  growingly  pernicious  ten- 
dency to  menace  our  liberties  of  Intercourse  and  ex- 
pression. What  else  does  It  do  to  compare  with 
what  your  city  or  town,  despite  all  Its  waste,  Is  do- 
ing daily  for  the  general  welfare,  in  its  highways 
and  schools  and  water  supply,  and  a  growing  list  of 
new  and  often  most  admirable  services.  Remove 
war  and  the  fears  of  war  and  little  remains  for  which 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  233 

the  service  of  the  national  government  is  strictly 
necessary.  Is  it  strange  that  all  governmental  peo- 
ple are  apt  to  shrink  from  giving  up  the  militaristic 
officialism  on  which  their  own  importance  rests? 
Few  of  them  see  what  a  wide  new  field  they  might 
cultivate  in  promoting  the  general  welfare. 

See  now  the  trend  of  progress  which,  already  con- 
spicuous in  the  growth  of  the  city,  is  soon  bound  to 
overtake  all  kinds  of  government.  No  city  to-day 
exists  as  it  once  did  for  the  purpose  of  defence.  A 
city  keeps  no  armies.  Old-world  cities  have  made 
parks  in  place  of  their  old  battlements.  The  city 
has  become  a  wonderful  co-operative  enterprise. 
There  are  no  longer  those  who  command  while  the 
others  obey.  All  are  partners.  Even  the  police  is 
coming  to  be  a  service  for  the  public  convenience; 
for  example,  to  cultivate  helpful  relations  with  the 
boys  and  to  befriend  strangers.  It  is  no  armed 
guard  to  suppress  the  flames  of  disorder.  Not  by 
the  presence  of  overwhelming  force,  but  by  the  re- 
moval of  various  needless  social  causes  of  irritation, 
by  the  absence  of  menace  and  threats,  and  specially 
by  the  kindly  attitude  of  all  kinds  and  conditions  of 
men  toward  one  another,  by  the  general  disposition 
to  do  justice  and  to  share  in  the  increasing  common 
wealth,  we  ensure  domestic  tranquillity  and  obtain 
freedom  from  the  fear  of  enemies.  Who  are  our 
enemies  if  we,  the  citizens,  bear  no  enmity  toward 
any  one  ? 

Now,  this  change  in  the  basis  and  character  of  the 
city  from  the  forced  pressure  of  fear  to  the  winsome- 


234  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

ness  of  mutual  advantage  is  the  first  fruit  and  the 
prophecy  of  the  incoming  change  in  the  aims  and 
objects  of  every  union  of  states.  We  are  bound 
now  to  do  fine  work  together  which  no  state  could 
do  so  well  alone.  Learning  to  put  aside  divisive 
jealousies  between  the  several  states,  we  need  no 
longer  to  compel  unwilling  or  reluctant  states  to  re- 
main in  the  Union.  That  union  is  the  most  indi- 
visible where  all  are  free  to  enjoy  the  common  wel- 
fare. Surely  we  could  never  again  wage  civil  war 
to  compel  a  state  to  stay  in  the  Union.  On  these 
terms  what  state  desires  to  withdraw? 

As  we  have  thus  in  our  grand  domain  no  need 
of  protection  from  a  sister  state,  nor  of  an  armed 
guard,  nor  of  a  fortress,  nor  of  a  custom-house  to 
distress  the  traveler,  nor  of  a  ship  to  police  our 
shores,  so  are  we  coming  by  the  same  magnificent 
trend  of  progress  to  feel  toward  all  the  sister  na- 
tions. We  have  no  enmity  toward  any  of  them 
now  and  we  have  no  fear,  except  so  far  as  some  of 
them  continue  to  go  armed.  A  Great  Britain,  a 
France,  a  Germany,  a  Japan,  without  a  fortification, 
an  army  or  a  battleship  constitutes  no  menace. 
Only  the  barbarism  of  armaments  and  the  suspicions 
and  fears  that  build  up  armaments  constitute  our 
common  enemies.  Already  not  a  nation  in  the 
world  fears  or  hates  the  United  States,  except  as  we 
present  to  them  the  terror  of  armies  and  navies. 
If  the  United  States  at  the  beginning  had  trusted  in 
its  democracy  enough  never  to  build  a  fort  or  keep 
a  navy  or  set  up  War  and  Navy  Departments,  if 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  235 

it  had  assumed  that  it  would  have  no  enemies  and 
had  never  prepared  against  enemies,  who  shall  say 
that  the  country  would  not  have  been  freer  and  safer 
from  actual  danger  and  from  the  bondage  of  fear 
than  it  has  ever  been?  Who  would  have  attacked 
her  if  she  had  behaved  justly  toward  all  peoples,  and 
cultivated  friendship  and  civilization  with  them? 
Whereas,  playing  the  role  of  a  fighting  nation,  sus- 
pected to  be  willing  to  go  to  war  over  a  quarrel  in 
trade,  or  a  boundary  line,  or  to  protect  venturesome 
travelers  in  backward  parts  of  the  world,  she  has 
actually  now  become  one  of  the  possible  greatest 
hindrances  to  the  peace  of  the  world.  Her  impe- 
rialism built  on  force  is  at  variance  with  her  democ- 
racy. Her  out-grown  Monroe  Doctrine  has  become 
a  source  of  increasing  friction,  misunderstanding, 
and  jealousy. 

Question  now  the  professed  nationalism  of  our 
age  and  find  how  much  good  democracy  it  contains  I 
What  is  nationalism,  and  what  is  patriotism?  We 
respect  every  spark  of  genuine  human  sentiment 
through  which  the  spiritual  nature  in  man  shines. 
There  is  a  patriotism  which  is  wholesome  and  uni- 
tary. The  city,  the  state,  the  nation,  each  is  a  de- 
partment of  the  grand  common  life  of  man.  I  be- 
long to  my  city  or  my  state  as  to  a  larger  family 
relationship.  I  inherit  the  traditions,  the  memo- 
ries, the  history,  the  ideals  of  this  fellowship.  I 
share  in  its  duties,  its  responsibilities,  its  debts  and 
obligations,  its  honor  and  its  dishonor,  its  achieve- 


236  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

ments  and  Its  failures.  I  am  bound  to  do  what  I 
can  for  Its  advancement.  I  owe  due  regard  to  its 
feeblest  and  neediest  members.  If  there  is  beauti- 
ful scenery,  if  there  has  been  heroic  color  in  the  his- 
tory, if  there  have  been  generous  and  public-spirited 
people,  I  have  a  happy  satisfaction  in  such  facts. 
This  holds  true  of  every  little  town.  It  is  good 
for  a  child  to  have  had  a  birthplace  for  which  he 
is  glad.  It  is  likewise  good  to  have  a  rational  sen- 
timent of  loyalty  toward  each  larger  civic  unit,  to  the 
state  and  the  nation,  of  which  we  are  members  and 
to  which  we  owe  obligations  in  co-operation  with 
other  men  and  women.  We  should  like  to  have 
people  feel  such  honorable  sentiments  In  every  city 
or  nation  In  the  world.  The  more  of  such  senti- 
ment, of  notable  memories  and  civic  duties,  the 
richer  the  world  is.  This  rational  patriotism  Is 
based  In  human  respect,  In  admiration  for  worthy 
human  accomplishments,  in  reverence  for  common 
human  Ideals.  There  is  no  Item  of  divlslveness  in 
It.  As  with  excellent  athletes  or  good  scholars,  so 
there  may  be  millions  of  sensible  patriots;  the 
more  there  are,  the  better  off  we  all  are.  The  more 
flourishing,  happy,  civilized  nations  there  are,  the 
better  for  all  of  us.  Good  internationalism  Is  the 
fruit  of  such  enlightened  and  large-hearted  patriot- 
ism; It  learns  Its  business  and  cultivates  Its  proper 
spirit  In  the  smaller  field  on  Its  way  to  take  part  In 
the  achievements  of  world  order. 

I  have   said  a   "  rational  "   patriotism   as  distin- 
guished from  a  hectic,  hysterical  and  barbarous  kind. 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  237 

I  protest  against  confounding  patriotism  with  the 
animal  instinct  to  stand  with  your  own  crowd  in  a 
fight.  The  difference  here  is  much  the  same  as  holds 
good  between  fanaticism  and  real  religion.  The 
fanatic  thinks  his  religion  the  only  one;  having  no 
understanding  of  other  men's  thought,  he  would  like 
to  compel  them  to  join  his  sect.  Desolating  reli- 
gious wars  arose  out  of  this  perverted  sectarianism; 
it  was  a  disease  of  the  human  spirit.  The  same 
type  of  narrowness,  the  same  contempt  of  others, 
the  same  swelling  of  national  pride,  worst  of  all,  the 
sectarian  will  to  compel  others,  even  to  "  enforce 
peace  '*  upon  them,  characterizes  a  large  part  of  the 
patriotism  of  the  world.  It  is  divisive,  irrational, 
hateful;  it  is  easily  provoked;  it  thinks  evil  and  ex- 
pects it;  it  makes  a  hero  of  every  one  dressed  in 
khaki.  Every  new  war  gives  it  fresh  growth  and 
feeds  it  with  new  fears.  This  fanatical  patriotism 
is  the  enemy  of  mankind.  Not  *'  German  militar- 
ism "  alone  needs  to  be  put  out  of  the  world;  our 
American  militarism  may  be  a  worse  curse  to  us; 
with  its  heathen  cry  of  the  "  big  stick  "  and  its 
"  force,  force,  force,'*  it  seeks  to  compel  our  young 
lads  to  think  the  homicidal  thoughts  of  a  soldier. 
So  much  for  two  opposite  kinds  of  nationalism:  one 
of  them  selfish,  fanatical  and  autocratic;  the  other 
the  virile  child  of  the  spirit,  humane  and  democratic. 

With  this  distinction  in  mind  we  can  see  what  a 
bona  fide  League  of  Nations  would  be.  We  imme- 
diately discover  two  almost  diametrically  opposite 


238  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

proposals  for  a  World  League.  The  United  States 
is  perhaps  the  loudest  of  all  in  its  urgency  for  a 
League  of  Force.  The  truth  is  that  the  United 
States  Is  the  home  of  a  most  subtle  and  solidly  ar- 
rayed group  of  Bourbon  conservatives,  distrustful 
of  all  wisdom  but  their  own,  most  timid  of  impend- 
ing changes  toward  a  more  humane  order  of  gov- 
ernment and  industry.  They  have  not  yet  the  se- 
cret of  a  rehgion  that  will  renew  men's  faith  and 
courage.  Thus,  most  distinguished  men  in  church 
and  state  do  not  expect  to  put  war  away  from  the 
world.  They  will  not  advise  the  nations  to 
"  scrap "  their  forts  and  battleships !  They  are 
looking  on  with  complacency  at  the  building  of  a  big 
navy;  they  are  boastful  of  the  success  of  conscrip- 
tion; they  go  beyond  our  English  cousins  in  their 
willingness  to  saddle  our  public  school  education 
with  a  Prussian  system  of  military  training.  Beside 
the  armed  forces  which  each  nation  is  still  to  carry 
on  the  back  of  its  people  —  purely  for  domestic  need, 
we  suppose  —  they  serve  notice  of  their  willingness 
to  entrust  the  new  League  with  a  large  enough  force 
to  compel  the  nations  in  it  to  behave  themselves. 
What  is  this  but  militarism  and  the  expectation  of 
war?  What  is  the  animus  behind  it  but  the  old 
fear,  distrust,  jealousy,  narrowness,  ready  to  blaze 
up  Into  hatred  —  the  same  inhuman  material  for 
war  with  which  the  world  has  been  cursed  for  thou- 
sands of  years!  The  force  is  more  nicely  gloved, 
but  it  Is  the  same  instrument  of  tyranny  over  the 
souls  of  men.      Fortunately,  this  project  is  not  likely 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  239 

to  be  carried  out.  Wholesale  disarmament  would 
probably  be  easier  to  accomplish.  Suppose  our 
fathers  had  recommended  a  standing  army  to  "  en- 
force peace"  between  the  newly  united  colonies! 
Would  they  ever  have  come  together  under  this 
menace  of  a  threat? 

Is  it  not  evident  that  the  great  democratic  trend 
of  the  world  toward  humanity  and  civilization  runs 
in  the  opposite  way?  It  comes  in  inescapably  as  if 
from  the  sources  of  being  and  power.  It  cannot 
go  back.  Let  us  be  bold  enough  to  face  all  that  it 
requires.  Our  fathers  acted  thus  boldly  when  they 
founded  a  nation  of  many  states.  They  put  away 
tariffs  and  trade  jealousies;  they  allowed  no  fortified 
boundaries;  they  trusted  every  state,  great  or  small, 
to  defer  to  the  judgment  of  the  supreme  national 
court,  with  no  armed  sheriff  to  press  the  claim. 
True,  they  built  partly  on  the  sands,  but  they  show 
us  all  the  better  where  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a 
true  League  of  Nations.  For  fundamentally  our 
Union  was  made  possible  and  has  endured,  out  of 
good  will  and  out  of  a  general  public  opinion  grow- 
ing on  the  whole  in  favor  of  justice  and  humanity. 
What  we  would  not  do  under  compulsion,  we  can 
do  as  soon  as  we  trust  one  another  and  when  we  are 
free  by  peaceable  means  to  correct  any  serious  In- 
justice. 

We  founded  our  national  Union  mainly  because 
we  wanted  protection  and  defence;  in  a  less  degree, 
only,  for  the  sake  of  the  general  welfare.  We  had 
little  imagination  to  foresee  the  notable  co-operative 


240  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

undertakings  which  are  now  coming  to  light.  For 
what  end  do  we  desire  or  need  a  League  of  Na- 
tions? The  chief  idea  is  that  which  was  only  inci- 
dental to  the  founders  of  the  American  nation  — 
namely,  the  provision  of  a  permanent  court  to  which 
all  differences  between  the  nations  of  the  world  may 
be  hopefully  brought.  We  have  the  beginning  of 
this  court  already  at  The  Hague.  We  do  not  even 
need  a  League  to  be  enabled  to  use  it.  Do  we  need 
anything  more  to  use  it  than  a  treaty  agreement 
between  the  various  nations,  such  as  President  Wil- 
son's administration  has  already  made  with  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  most  important  Powers? 
The  one  requisite  is  the  will  and  the  pubHc  opinion 
of  nations  to  use  the  court.  Is  the  United  States 
ready  to  contribute  this  needful  will  to  use  the  court 
rather  than  force,  for  example,  in  a  case  between 
herself  and  a  South  or  Central  American  State? 
If  she  has  not  the  will  to  do  so  little  a  thing,  would 
she  accept  a  compulsory  court  decision  against  her- 
self? 

But  we  still  need  protection.  We  want  the  free- 
dom of  the  seas.  What  we  really  mean  is  not  free- 
dom from  the  raids  of  pirates,  but  from  sea  wars 
waged  by  just  such  nations  as  we  are,  and  with  the 
same  hideous  ships.  Scuttle  every  warship,  as  we 
have  substantially  done  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  we 
should  all,  great  and  small,  enjoy  perfect  freedom 
of  the  seas.  Do  we  need  a  League  to  make  the 
seas  free  and  safe  for  the  world?  No,  England 
and  the  United  States  could  effect  this  by  the  simple 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  24 1 

act  of  disarmament.  Who  would  not  join  them? 
No  republic  wants  a  navy  in  a  world  of  republics. 
The  safest  of  nations  for  forty  years  have  been  Hol- 
land and  the  small  Scandinavian  States,  each  with 
a  large  commerce  and  tiny  sea-power.  Take  the 
fearsome  warships  from  the  seas,  open  plenty  of 
ports  to  unrestricted  commerce,  and  you  will  have 
removed  the  major  causes  of  friction  and,  at  the 
same  time,  instead  of  making  the  ocean  an  easy 
means  of  attack,  you  will  have  made  it  a  powerful 
preventive  and  defence  against  war. 

We  desire  every  new  bond  expressing  interna- 
tional good  will  and  directed  for  the  common  wel- 
fare. We  have  seen  within  a  generation  a  most 
hopeful  growth  of  conferences,  congresses  and  un- 
ions among  the  nations  —  for  closer  postal  rela- 
tions, for  collecting  and  disseminating  information 
about  the  products  of  the  agriculture  of  all  coun- 
tries ^,  for  science  and  education.  All  these  fre- 
quent meetings  constitute  a  long  list  of  natural 
forms  of  alliance.  These  conferences  only  need  to 
acquire  a  firmer  rootage  and  extension  and  proper 
correlation  to  put  an  end  to  war.  Should  not  the 
League  of  Nations  grow  on  such  lines?  Should  it 
not  be  flexible  and  simple  in  its  organization  and 
most  free  and  open  in  its  membership?  What  need 
has  it  of  a  governing  power,  for  a  few  to  command 
the  rest?     Its  success  depends  upon  the  absence  of 

1  The    International    Institute   of   Agriculture    at   Rome,   founded 
at  the  suggestion  of  an  American,  David  Lubin. 


242  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

force,  upon  the  greatest  possible  use  of  publicity  and 
discussion,  upon  an  enlightened  understanding  and 
a  humane  public  opinion. 

The  somewhat  cumbrous  and  inelastic  organiza- 
tion of  the  United  States  came  mostly  out  of  the 
old-world  ideals  of  a  government  meant  for  defence. 
The  bigness  of  a  nation  is  of  only  the  slightest  con- 
sequence in  a  civilized  world.  Indeed  the  most  use- 
ful States  have  often  been  small.  There  Is  nothing 
sacred  in  boundary  lines.  We  do  not  love  our  coun- 
try more  by  reason  of  the  addition  of  Alaska.  We 
should  love  it  no  less  if  it  proved  convenient  for 
Porto  Rico  to  be  joined  in  a  federation  with  the 
Spanish-speaking  republic  of  Cuba.  So  far  as  our 
original  Union  made  no  provision  for  the  with- 
drawal of  a  state,  this  was  in  deference  to  no  ra- 
tional principle:  our  fathers  doubtless  wished  to  be 
able  to  mass  their  forces  in  the  event  of  war.  But 
nothing  can  be  so  undemocratic  as  to  force  indi- 
viduals or  a  State  to  remain  in  any  Union,  political 
or  ecclesiastical,  if  the  people  deliberately  and  after 
due  process  of  discussion  wish  to  go  out.  So  with 
our  League  of  Nations.  If  it  can  offer  good  reasons 
for  the  peoples  to  join  It,  if  it  has  continental  rail- 
ways to  construct,  or  grand  tunnels  to  connect  us 
more  closely,  which  no  nation  could  finance  alone,  If 
It  shall  mean  a  common  coinage  and  currency,  with 
mails  and  telephone  lines  to  make  the  world  more 
neighborly,  if  it  promises  to  forbid  famine  and 
plague  and  to  remove  the  causes  that  create  poverty 
and  disease,  let  us  have  such  a  league.     But  let  us 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT  243 

beware  how  we  are  led  by  imperialistic  zeal  to  cre- 
ate a  league  of  tyranny  and  force,  whether  labeled 
an  Empire  or  a  Republic. 

The  fact  is,  we  have  just  come  to  the  point  in 
human  history  where  we  may  see  how  to  steer  the 
way  of  mankind  toward  the  happier  shores  of  a  real 
civilization.  In  a  barbarous,  purposeless  world 
there  is  nothing  to  do  but  drift.  But  this  is  not 
a  purposeless  world.  A  deep  and  significant  move- 
ment ever  guides  us  on  and  upwards.  There  has 
always  been  an  eternal  thought  urging  us.  We  are 
coming  to  share  the  stirring  thought,  to  enter  into 
the  costly  and  beautiful  civilizing  purpose,  to  become 
share-holders  and  co-workers  with  God,  and  so  to 
hope  immeasurably  to  hasten  the  movement.  We 
are  here  to  add  our  willing  minds  to  the  Good 
Will  of  the  Universe.  This  ideal  once  seen  makes 
us  all  brothers.  Herein  Is  the  supreme  reason  why 
we  cannot  abide  war;  we  protest  against  it  on  every 
occasion.  Wherever  It  breaks  out  with  its  blinding 
suspicion  and  hatred  it  vitiates  the  life  of  democracy. 
The  steersman's  eyes  are  confused. 


VI 

THE    GOSPEL    OF    PERCENTAGES 

Say  what  we  will  of  the  commanding  supremacy  of 
the  ideal  things,  there  comes  at  times,  to  many 
minds  at  least,  the  reflex  of  a  cold  wave  of  doubt. 
Few  are  exempt  from  this  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides 
of  life,  spiritual  as  well  as  physical.  I  wish  to  bring 
to  our  aid  against  these  falling  tides  of  emotional 
confidence  certain  considerations  which  dispose  the 
mind  anew  to  its  normal  optimistic  direction.  I  say 
optimistic  advisedly,  because  our  religion  is  frankly 
a  religion  of  ineradicable  hope.  A  man  is  not  his 
whole  or  best  self  without  hope  in  his  eyes.  No 
man  can  do  his  best  work  without  enthusiasm.  Let 
us  not  be  ashamed  to  be  optimists,  provided  we  are 
serious-minded  in  our  devotion  to  truth. 

The  doctrine  of  percentages  is  not  a  dry  study  of 
figures.  It  is  a  simple  deduction  from  all  kinds  of 
practical  experiences.  Let  me  illustrate  what  I 
wish  to  set  forth.  I  sit  and  write  on  a  dreary  win- 
ter day.  Fog  and  dampness  are  about  me.  I  can- 
not see  beyond  a  narrow  horizon.  How  much  of 
the  area  of  the  country  is  under  the  clouds?  Prob- 
ably only  a  small  percentage :  possibly  the  sun  shines 
forty  miles  inland.  The  climate  of  my  city  has  on 
the  average  but  a  small  percentage  of  really  bad 

244 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  PERCENTAGES  245 

weather.  Now  this  is  a  parable.  You  can  apply 
it  in  almost  any  black  time  and  reach  the  same  gen- 
eral conclusions.  We  suffer  moods  of  darkness  over 
the  wickedness  about  us.  Is  it  possible  that  whole 
nations  or  races  may  give  way  to  an  epidemic  of  in- 
human unscrupulousness ?  "In  my  haste,'*  says  an 
old  writer,  "  I  said  all  men  are  liars."  But  wait. 
What  are  the  facts,  for  example,  that  account  for 
the  Great  War?  The  conditions  were  not  in  any 
way  so  desperate  as  most  people  suppose.  Only  a 
small  percentage  of  the  guiltiest  nation  were  hope- 
lessly unscrupulous  and  irrational.  If  five  years  ago 
we  could  have  subtracted  fewer  than  a  hundred 
noisy,  egotistic,  wrong-headed,  half-crazy  but  de- 
termined persons,  statesmen,  potentates,  essayists, 
philosophers,  the  Kaiser  type,  the  Clemenceau  type, 
the  horrid  tragedy  would  not  have  been  provoked. 
It  is  the  few,  as  a  rule,  who  set  mischief  in  motion. 

It  is  the  same  on  a  small  scale  in  the  scope  of 
common  experience  as  in  the  great  crises  of  history. 
What  makes  the  toughest  boys'  school  bad?  It 
may  be  one  man;  the  master  happens  to  be  self- 
willed  and  unsympathetic.  Perhaps  a  very  few  boys 
give  the  school  its  reputation.  Remove  five  or  ten 
of  them  and  you  would  cure  the  misrule.  So  with 
the  mob  which  lynches  a  helpless  negro.  Send  away 
a  half  dozen  men  or  cool  their  temper,  and  no  mob 
would  gather! 

It  is  marvelous  how  the  course  of  history  might 
have  been  altered  by  the  withdrawal  of  a  tiny  per- 
centage of  inordinately  unscrupulous  men.     What  if 


246  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

Hannibal  or  Alexander  or  Julius  Caesar  or  Tam- 
erlane or  Napolean  or  Bismarck  had  never  been 
born!  It  looks  as  if  a  little  minority  has  been  re- 
sponsible for  a  large  part  of  all  the  evil  that  has 
been  committed  on  the  earth! 

Note  now  another  fact  that  works  to  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  bad.  Not  only  are  the  desperately  mis- 
chievous personages  extremely  few,  but  they  almost 
never  come  together.  They  cannot  propagate  their 
kind;  their  very  presence  tends  by  a  reaction  of 
horror  to  waken  into  life  resilient  moral  antitoxins 
to  limit  their  evil.  In  general,  we  may  say  that 
what  we  see  at  its  worst,  and  when  we  are  unhap- 
piest  and  most  pessimistic,  reduced  to  its  propor- 
tions, is  found  never  to  be  so  bad  as  it  seems.  It  is 
not  so  prevalent,  so  long  continued,  or  so  mortally 
hurtful.  This  is  in  the  nature  of  things,  because 
there  is  nothing  infinite  in  evil;  it  runs  its  course 
and  fails;  every  particular  form  of  it  is  self-destruc- 
tive; it  has  nothing  but  a  derived  life. 

Turn  now  to  the  other  end  of  the  scale  and  see 
what  is  going  on,  or  liable  at  any  moment  to  hap- 
pen, where  the  little  percentage  of  the  good  powers 
is  shown.  Grant  that  this  percentage  at  any  time 
or  place  at  present  seems  small.  But  how  immeas- 
urably active  and  irresistible  it  is !  It  has  been 
said  that  there  are  many  ''  fairly  honest  men,  but  ex- 
tremely few  men  who  are  scrupulously  honest." 
Yet  one  such  man  lifts  the  standards  of  conduct 
around  him  for  all  coming  time !  Here  in  the  realm 
of  spiritual  forces  the  infinite  life  is  at  work.     There 


THE  GOSPEL  OF   PERCENTAGES  247 

is  contrast  with  the  bad  or  you  would  not  know  the 
good,  but  there  is  no  comparison  of  power.  The 
work  of  construction  Is  positive;  a  glint  of  It  Is  sig- 
nificant and  prophetic  of  the  coming  of  more  of  the 
same,  or  of  better. 

The  old  story  of  Sodom  is  a  pertinent  parable. 
If  Abraham  could  find  as  many  as  ten  upright  men 
In  the  city,  the  ten  could  save  It:  not  by  favor  of  the 
Almighty,  but  by  virtue  of  the  common  human  na- 
ture which  only  needed  a  few  true  and  brave  men  to 
rally  against  the  orgy  of  corruption  into  which  the 
town  had  fallen. 


SECTION  V 

THE  RELIGION  WITHIN 

I 

RELIGION    AS   AN    EXPERIENCE 

I  HAVE  Wished  to  demonstrate  all  through  this  book 
that  religion  in  its  supreme  thoughts  and  ideas  is 
democratic  and  universal.  I  wish  now  to  show  that 
its  most  exalted  moods  and  most  precious  experi- 
ences are  open,  like  the  sight  of  the  stars,  to  every 
one.  The  greatest  spiritual  teachers,  the  prophets, 
Jesus  and  Paul,  Wesley  and  Channing,  have  always 
said  this.  In  ages  of  barbarism  the  religion  of 
Jesus,  as  distinguished  from  the  religion  of  the 
church,  was  especially  that  of  men  who  broke 
through  the  conventions  of  the  priests  and  the  Phar- 
isees into  "  the  holy  of  holies." 

The  day  of  the  coming  democracy,  when  each  man 
shall  count  not  as  a  mere  vote  but  as  a  man,  makes 
its  call  for  a  broader  church  than  ever  yet  was  — 
not  the  church  of  any  one  name  or  founder,  though 
he  might  be  the  greatest  and  best,  not  the  church  of 
any  race  or  nation,  but  the  open  church  of  humanity 
—  another  name  for  divinity,  reality,  unity  and  all 
ideal  and  beautiful  things.     This  is  the  church  of 

249 


250  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  spirit  and  of  all  souls,  to  which  every  man  of 
good  will  now  belongs.  Visible  walls  or  buildings 
do  not  make  It.  The  peoples  of  every  race  and 
language  already  begin  to  find  themselves  and  to 
find  one  another  in  it  as  fast  as  they  know  justice, 
truth,  integrity,  and  kindness. 

What  now.  In  this  broadest  sense  of  the  word,  is 
religion  or  a  religious  experience?  Let  us  answer 
this  first  in  the  simplest  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
most  splendid  and  universal  way.  Put  yourself 
back  in  your  childhood  and  see  what  marvelous 
process  was  going  on  in  you.  You  were  being 
played  upon  by  all  sorts  of  agencies;  continual  action 
and  reaction  were  building  you  up  Into  manhood. 
Both  outside  and  within  invisible  forces  were  at 
work  upon  your  body  and  even  more  subtly  upon 
yourself  —  the  invisible  spiritual  being,  always  un- 
deniably there,  but  most  difficult  of  all  things  to 
describe.  You  looked  up  to  the  stars  and  the  sky 
and  caught  the  conception  of  space,  and  of  space 
beyond  spaces  Immeasurable,  of  aeons  of  time,  and 
of  time  extending  backward  and  forward  forever. 
You  touched  and  heard  and  saw  and  wondered  at 
the  realm  of  beauty  In  the  gardens  and  the  trees; 
you  touched  life  like  your  life  and  began  to  learn 
Its  various  languages  of  sign  and  tone  and  changing 
face,  as  well  as  speech.  You  entered  Into  a  heritage 
of  words,  thoughts.  Ideals,  duties,  responsibilities, 
binding  your  little  life  with  many  millions  on  the 
earth,  with  myriads  before  your  time,  their  deeds, 
their  varied  cities,  their  poems   and  psalms,   their 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  25 1 

hopes;  binding  you  also  with  myriads  to  come  who 
might  be  better  or  worse,  happier  or  poorer,  for 
the  conduct  of  your  life  and  that  of  your  comrades. 

You,  the  self,  the  growing  man  from  childhood 
up,  were  at  each  moment  what  this  play  of  forces, 
physical,  human,  moral,  social,  spiritual,  made  you 
as  you  reacted  upon  it  all.  What  did  you  ever  do, 
except  to  answer  to  It  by  whatever  was  within  you? 
How  did  that  kernel  of  selfhood  within  yourself 
come  to  be?  What  did  you  ever  create,  or  invent, 
or  initiate,  except  at  the  instance  of  the  building  cre- 
ative life  forces? 

Now  Imagine  the  highest  and  most  complete  type 
of  man;  Imagine  what  you  would  like  best  to  attain 
to,  in  the  most  exalted  flight  of  your  idealizing  In- 
telligence. Do  not  even  look  back  for  any  suffi- 
cient example  In  the  past;  be  content  with  nothing 
less  than  the  maximum  Ideal,  well-made  In  body,  ex- 
cellently equipped  in  mind,  clear-sighted,  skillful, 
wise,  just,  true-hearted,  lovable.  It  will  not  be  so 
very  different  from  actual  men  and  women  whom 
some  of  us  have  known.  Where,  pray,  do  such  men 
come  from?  They  do  not  make  themselves.  They 
are  the  creation  of  the  universe  life  wherever  any 
"  mere  man  "  really  answers  back  at  his  very  best 
to  the  impress  of  the  shaping  fingers  of  the  one 
creative  life. 

I  call  this  whole  series  of  impressions  both  from 
without  and  within,  through  the  net  effect  of  which, 
the  man  comes  up  into  the  most  complete  realiza- 
tion of  himself  as  a  thinking,  dutiful,  friendly,  just, 


252  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

generous,  useful  and  helpful  man  —  both  a  free  in- 
dividual and  a  social  being  —  the  experience  of  re- 
ligion. Scougal,  a  Scotch  writer,  long  ago  defined 
religion  as  "  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  men." 
He  meant,  I  think,  something  like  what  we  mean 
here.  Call  the  creating  universe  life  by  the  familiar 
name  of  God.  This  linked  series  of  upward-moving 
influences,  all  going  to  make  an  all-round  man,  hold- 
ing at  his  heart  everything  needful  to  constitute  a 
divine  being,  would  be  the  conversation,  as  it  were, 
between  God  and  the  man.  Every  impress  of  the 
beauty  and  Integrity  of  the  universe  on  the  growing 
Integrity  of  the  man  would  be  an  experience  of  re- 
ligion. Could  you  Imagine  any  teaching  more  ef- 
fectively worthy  of  a  divine  mind  whereby  to  endow 
his  child  with  light  and  satisfaction?  Anyway, 
whatever  you  like  to  call  It,  here  are  the  facts  —  a 
continuous  series  of  Impressions  —  all  in  their  united 
effect  bringing  to  pass  the  most  perfectly  beautiful 
specimen  of  the  fruitage  of  the  universe !  You  can- 
not possibly  think  111  of  the  world  that  does  such 
work  as  this. 

Now  this  Is  the  normal  development  of  the  school 
of  life.  It  Is  precisely  what  ought  to  be  measurably 
effected  in  all  men.  We  call  no  man  a  failure  who 
responds  at  all  to  this  type  or  norm.  We  call  no 
life  a  success  which  fails  to  respond  to  It. 

I  am  speaking,  however,  with  respect  to  evolution. 
I  am  looking  forward,  therefore,  rather  than  look- 
ing back.  I  care  nothing  for  those  who  say  that 
human   nature   has   never   changed   and   cannot   be 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  253 

changed.  I  am  not  moved  by  those  who  say  that 
mankind  has  fought  battles  for  ten  thousand  years 
and  will  always  fight.  To  say  such  things  is  neither 
to  be  a  good  evolutionist,  nor  to  note  the  facts  of 
human  nature.  Human  nature  normally  passes 
through  phases  and  changes;  it  wants  to  put  forth 
not  only  exuberant  stock  and  leafage,  but  to  bring 
its  choice  fruit  to  ripeness.  You  may  thus  know 
more  of  its  nature,  of  what  it  is  capable  of  doing, 
of  what  its  next  coming  phase  of  development  will 
be  like,  through  the  biographies  of  the  best  typical 
men  and  women  of  the  past  hundred  years  than  you 
could  know  from  the  annals  of  twenty  thousand 
years  of  barbarism,  or  from  all  the  biological  labora- 
tories of  the  world. 

As  with  the  physical  side  of  the  vast  evolutionary 
movement,  so  with  its  spiritual  side.  There  are 
times  and  seasons.  We  are  not  saying  that  when 
the  first  poet  of  the  "  coming  people  "  foresaw  that 
the  day  would  dawn  when  the  spirit  of  God  "  would 
be  poured  out  on  all  flesh,"  the  day  had  then 
dawned.  We  are  not  saying  that  you  could  have 
brought  in  a  genuine  rule  of  the  people  by  an  edict 
of  Julius  Caesar.  We  simply  say  that  the  signs  mul- 
tiply to-day  toward  these  and  other  great  spiritual 
events,  as  the  signs  of  land  multiplied  before  Colum- 
bus' little  ships  as  they  approached  the  undiscovered 
islands.  This  means  that  ventures  in  the  faith  of 
the  coming  freedom  are  safer  and  surer  before  our 
feet  than  they  ever  were  before.  Grant  that  what 
we  long  for  —  the  reality  and  the  unity  of  religion, 


254  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  gladness  of  religion  for  the  average  man,  the 
fellowship  of  men  in  a  common  task,  the  harmony 
of  all  races  as  heirs  of  the  ages  —  was  never 
possible  before,  that  civilization  could  not  be  before 
the  times  were  ripe.  I  urge  that  the  age  of  the 
spirit  is  here,  that  good  will  can  do  what  we  need; 
better  yet,  that  it  is  already  doing  its  work  wherever 
the  spiritual  atmosphere  has  become  clear  enough  to 
permit  the  waves  of  the  eternal  light  to  shine 
through  and  act  upon  the  roots  of  goodness  waiting 
in  every  man.  Already  every  impulse  counts  for 
its  full  value;  gleams  of  beauty,  works  of  worthy 
art,  the  appeal  of  music,  memories  of  good  men, 
the  safeguarding  thought  or  presence  of  generous 
womanhood,  every  story  of  sturdy  honesty  or  faith- 
fulness, moments  of  wide-awake  action  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  self-indulgence,  conversations  with  high- 
minded  friends,  the  very  sight  of  pure  and  lovable 
people  —  what  are  these  but  the  contact  and  expe- 
rience of  religion?  Through  all  of  them  comes 
the  impelling  presence  of  the  one  divine  life.  Is 
the  hearing  a  sermon  or  a  psalm  religious,  and  is  not 
every  movement  of  life  also  religious,  which  stirs 
resolution,  sharpens  conscience,  adds  courage,  opens 
the  doors  of  hope,  or  sends  us  forth  on  errands  of 
friendship?  Whatever  enters  into  the  molding 
and  the  fulfillment  of  the  ideal  or  spiritual  life  in 
any  man  is  an  experience  of  religion.  As  surely 
as  God  is  at  all,  this  is  God  in  us.  Who  can  live 
or  move  or  have  his  being  without  this  inspiring, 
upbuilding  life? 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  255 

But  some  one  says:  "We  thought  that  religion 
had  to  do  with  worship  and  prayers  and  with  what 
is  coming  after  death."  Is  it  not  a  strange  fact  that 
Jesus,  whom  hundreds  of  millions  of  people  worship 
as  God,  has  so  little  to  say  about  the  worship  of 
God?  We  do  not  know  that  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  go  up  to  the  temple  at  all,  but  he  has  very 
clear  teachings  about  the  conditions  which  foster 
worship.  A  man  who  brings  a  quarrel  with  his 
brother  to  the  altar,  Jesus  says,  cannot  worship  God 
till  he  has  settled  his  quarrel.  This  is  to  say  that 
a  man  must  compose  his  own  mind  and  become 
friendly  before  he  can  worship.  In  fact,  this 
change  of  mind  is  itself  the  best  kind  of  worship. 
To  be  friendly  is  to  be  worshipful;  it  is  to  be  in  and 
with  God.  Jesus  also  teaches  that  no  one  can  wor- 
ship who  brings  his  pride  into  his  church,  thanking 
God  that  he  is  holier  than  his  neighbor.  What 
would  Jesus,  the  lover  of  men,  say  to  churches 
crowded  with  "  Christians "  praying  for  victory 
over  enemy  Christians !  Would  he  not  call  a  mora- 
torium  over  all  such  worship  while  Christians  kept 
up  their  war? 

We  have  no  idea  of  an  emperor  God  on  his  throne 
desiring  praise  and  obeisance.  No  good  human  fa- 
ther wishes  an  oriental  obsequiousness  in  his  children. 
He  desires  their  sympathy,  their  fellowship  and 
their  intelligent  understanding,  their  appreciation  of 
his  thoughts  and  plans,  their  cheerful  co-operation  in 
the  work  closest  to  his  heart.  That  they  should 
say:  How  can  we  help  you?  is  "  worship."     So  with 


256  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  worship  of  God.  "  God  Is  spirit  and  they  that 
worship  him  must  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
That  is,  as  the  great  cable  carries  the  Infinite  power 
of  good  will,  so  the  little  wires,  whether  single  or 
gathered  on  occasion  in  great  coils,  shall  carry  their 
full  capacity  of  the  moving  power.  To  think  pure 
thoughts  is  worship,  to  love  is  worship,  to  serve  for 
love's  sake  is  worship.  Does  the  church  quicken 
great  thoughts  ?  Then  it  helps  worship.  Whatever 
brings  to  a  man  the  sense  of  the  presence  of  the 
good  life  of  the  world  helps  toward  worship. 
What  do  you  do  at  your  best?  This  Is  worship; 
that  is,  you  are  then  with  God.  You  let  the  selfish 
will  go,  you  own  up  to  your  faults,  you  open  your 
heart  to  pity  and  sympathy,  you  veto  meanness  and 
anger.  Surely  you  are  with  God  and  God  Is  in  and 
with  you,  when  you  thus  share  his  life  and  his  work. 
"  Whosoever  loveth  is  born  of  God."  Where  love 
is,  there  God  is.  When  will  men  learn  these  simple 
things  which  make  us  all  great!  When  will 
churches  and  temples  be  so  wholly  consecrated  to 
these  ideas  that  harsh  and  selfish  men  and  women 
shall  be  ashamed  to  bring  their  Impure  and  un- 
brotherly  selves  within  the  doors,  and  shall  go  away 
possessed  by  the  new  spirit! 

What  shall  we  say  about  prayer?  Can  there  be 
prayer  In  a  reasonable  religion?  In  the  best  and 
only  real  sense,  yes.  The  thought  of  evolution  and 
Its  multiform  bearings,  of  the  processes  of  the  guid- 
ing and  creative  universe  life  as  natural  and  orderly, 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  257 

though  none  the  less  Infinitely  marvelous,  the  idea 
of  the  universal  law  as  dynamic  and  vital  rather 
than  static  or  fixed  —  this  Copernlcan  change  of 
base,  entering  all  human  and  spiritual  relations,  al- 
ters the  meaning  of  every  traditional  word  or  defini- 
tion. In  many  cases  we  need  new  words  to  express 
ourselves;  it  takes  too  much  time  to  fit  the  old  words 
to  our  purpose.  Prayer  is  such  a  word.  We  are 
not  thinking  of  it  to-day  as  the  primitive  peoples, 
like  little  children,  thought  of  it,  as  a  kind  of  magic 
to  change  or  bend,  the  will  of  a  changeable  God  to 
do  their  bidding,  to  destroy  their  enemies,  to  work 
miracles  and  save  them  the  trouble  of  honest  toil. 
A  grander,  nobler  idea  of  deity  forbids  this.  Who 
are  we  in  the  face  of  this  vast,  complex  universe  to 
dictate  our  wishes  or  venture  to  alter  its  normal 
processes?  How  do  we  know  what  is  wise  and 
good  for  our  own  welfare,  or  for  the  welfare  of 
mankind? 

The  old  notion  of  the  magic  power  in  petitions, 
of  being  heard  for  our  "  much  speaking  "  passes 
away  in  a  larger  conception.  It  is  like  the  young 
child's  thought  of  his  father  as  an  easy  mark  for 
his  eager  importunity,  which  grows  up  at  length 
into  a  respect  and  a  reasonableness  that  at  last 
never  thinks  of  asking  favors.  Is  not  this  later 
growth  of  the  grown  child's  mind  toward  the  parent 
already  gaining  a  closeness,  an  Intimacy,  a  dearness, 
a  trust,  a  sense  of  communion,  that  never  were  be- 
fore? In  this  sense  prayer  is  the  closest  relation 
between  man  at  his  best  and  the  spirit  of  the  uni- 


258  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

verse.  This  Is  a  fact  in  the  nature  of  religion.  It 
is  a  mood  of  inward  rest  and  harmony,  of  confi- 
dence and  hope  free  of  fears,  of  good  will  awaiting 
the  monitions  of  a  higher  will,  in  which  the  whole 
movement  of  life  is  summed  up  in  the  great  words : 
'*  Thy  Kingdom  —  or  Commonwealth  —  come  :  thy 
will  —  that  is,  the  Great  Good  Will  —  be  done." 
This  is  the  substance  of  what  prayer  is  at  its  best. 
It  is  doubtless  In  this  sense  in  which  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Eliot  has  said  that  it  is  the  "  highest  effort  of  the 
human  intelligence."  The  man  in  the  fullest  exer- 
cise of  his  integrity  as  a  man,  ready  for  life  or  death, 
reflects  and  answers  back  to  the  Integrity  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  world  is  now  no  material  aggregate  of 
phenomena,  but  rather  a  spiritual  unity.  The  phe- 
nomenal world  and  its  history  are  a  vast  series  of 
parables  and  lessons  of  the  ideal  facts,  laws,  and  life 
of  the  spiritual  reality. 

I  am  describing  actual  experiences  and  no  mere 
imagination.  I  wish  to  cover  especially  those  cases 
which  rise  to  what  man  has  been  accustomed  to  recog- 
nize as  conscious  communion  with  God.  In  these  mo- 
ments of  a  heightened  life,  the  whole  man  is  awake : 
nothing  in  him  Is  dormant.  In  the  truth-loving  man 
even  the  critical  Intelligence  also  Is  awake  and  on  its 
guard  against  both  illusion  and  conceit.  Is  there 
anything  irrational  in  the  fact  that  a  man  may  be 
at  his  best  as  a  spiritual  being  without  the  slightest 
damage  of  body  or  mind?  If  the  word  mystical 
had  not  been  used  for  grotesque  and  weird  expe- 
riences, I  should  like  to  call  the  state  of  which  we 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  259 

are  speaking  "  ethical  mysticism."  Call  it  if  you 
will  "  ethical  religion,"  so  as  to  make  clear  where 
its  emphasis  lies.  There  is  an  essential  unity  of 
body  and  mind.  The  self  is  there  in  the  attitude  of 
a  good  or  friendly  self,  its  will  bent  on  the  service 
of  mankind  —  that  reasonable  and  actual  service 
in  which  each  man  desires  for  every  man  the  best 
that  he  has  himself.  Out  of  this  good  will  and  ac- 
companying it  grow  peace,  contentment,  courage, 
trust  in  the  right,  and  cheerful  optimism.  The  man 
is  at  his  best  for  every  kind  of  useful  exercise  of  all 
his  faculties.     Who  would  not  desire  this? 

Assuming  the  spirit  of  the  universe  to  be  the  most 
real  of  facts,  such  an  experience  as  this  is  what  you 
might  well  expect.  What  higher  gift  could  it  be- 
stow? Dreams  and  visions  could  not  be  so  satisfy- 
ing. It  is  not  as  if  you  were  lifting  yourself  and 
creating  the  ideas  —  truth,  right,  duty,  infinite  fel- 
lowship—  but  rather  as  if  all  these  splendid 
thoughts  were  impressed  upon  you;  as  if  you  were 
lifted  by  a  power  more  than  yourself;  as  if  the  mes- 
sages of  faith,  hope  and  love,  were  being  whispered 
to  you  through  every  article  of  beauty  and  every 
gleam  of  loving  eyes  around  you.  It  Is  as  If  the  uni- 
verse were  behaving  toward  you  as  a  real  spiritual 
universe  ought  to  behave. 

Man  at  his  best  Is  another  and  superior  kind 
of  force,  as  compared  with  himself  on  the  low 
level  of  his  selfishness.  He  can  see  things  that  he 
did  not  see  before,  and  command  subtle  powers 
of  tact,  sagacity  and  common  sense  that  the  selfish 


26o  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

man  did  not  possess.  It  Is  as  if,  instead  of  laying 
down  his  own  tiny  plans  before  the  Eternal  Mind 
and  begging  to  be  helped  to  carry  them  out,  he  were 
listening,  as  a  man  awaits,  modestly  and  diligently, 
the  commands  of  his  leader,  to  be  shown  what  is 
best  to  do.  It  is  as  if  he  brought  his  hopes  and  anx- 
ieties and  dearest  longings  for  his  children,  his 
friends,  his  countrymen,  and  in  the  quiet  mood  of 
one  who  wishes  nothing  so  much  as  the  highest  wel- 
fare of  spiritual  beings,  finds  the  insight  to  help 
them.  It  is  as  if  the  w^hole  world  were  linked  and 
hinged  together  for  the  ultimate  accomplishment  of 
the  men  of  good  will,  and  in  this  watchtower  of 
the  spirit  he  sees  how  to  touch  new  springs  of  ac- 
tion and  avail  himself  of  the  munitions  of  goodness, 
wherever  stored.  Do  not  dream  but  that  something 
new  or  wonderful  may  and  does  evolve  from  this 
kind  of  communion  wherein  the  soul  of  man  beats 
in  unison  with  all  good  souls  and  draws  resources 
needful  from  the  springs  of  life. 

Put  this,  if  you  will,  into  practical  form.  Pious 
forefathers  began  the  day  with  prayer.  Grant  that 
you  can  never  do  as  they  did.  How  do  you  begin 
your  day  better  than  they  did?  Suppose  you  rush, 
as  most  men  do,  into  the  business  of  the  day  with 
casual  mind,  self-centered,  purposeless,  unquiet  or 
irritable.  Do  you  not  see  that  you  are  a  different 
man  and  destined  inevitably  to  a  different  day,  to 
feebler  and  less  worthy  accomplishment,  to  acts 
closer  to  the  danger  lines  of  injustice,  than  if  you 
took  a  moment  at  the  start  of  the  day  to  set  the 


RELIGION  AS  AN   EXPERIENCE  26 1 

tune  of  your  life  with  the  music  of  all  goodness  and 
beauty?  Will  not  your  whole  household  be  a  differ- 
ent family  group,  wiser,  calmer,  more  effective,  if 
you  and  they  hear  a  psalm  or  hymn  of  trust,  or  a 
few  noble  words  of  friendly  thought,  than  if  they 
each  tear  apart  from  the  rest  bent  upon  their  own 
pleasure  or  gain?  Will  not  a  nation  of  households, 
accustomed  to  frequent  hours  of  social  refreshment 
in  planning  improved  modes  of  human  action  and  re- 
newing the  grand  purposes  of  life,  be  a  happier, 
wiser  and  more  democratic  people  than  any  equal 
multitude  of  anxious,  feverish,  greedy  men  and 
women  who  never  meet  each  other  except  for  amuse- 
ment or  in  their  exclusive  clubs  and  unions?  What 
indeed  does  the  world  need  so  much  as  that  whole- 
some and  uplifting  spirit,  which  is  at  once  the  wor- 
ship of  God  and  an  act  in  the  service  of  man! 


II 

WHY    WE    SAY    GOD 

I  HAVE  been  chary  In  using  the  word  God.  Instead 
of  beginning  with  the  old-fashioned  assumption  of 
God,  I  have  found  It  necessary  to  begin  at  the  other 
end  and  to  find  what  the  near  and  verifiable  facts 
are  which  lie  back  of  the  assumption.  This  Is  the 
method  of  all  good  science :  It  Is  the  method  of  the 
lovers  of  truth.  Moreover,  it  is  good  for  our  mod- 
esty now  and  then.  In  thinking  upon  the  most  tre- 
mendous questions  that  man  asks,  to  drop  every 
easy  assumption  and  to  Insist  that  we  think  out  what 
our  words  mean.  We  have  all  heard  the  name  of 
God  spoken  in  an  inert,  wholly  empty  and  conven- 
tional manner.  No  wonder  if  many  honest  minds 
are  shy  of  it. 

I  have  found  it  almost  impossible,  however,  not 
to  use  the  word  God.  Words  at  best  are  only  con- 
venient as  tools  or  symbols  to  express  Ideas.  No 
word  can  be  big  or  exact  enough  to  satisfy  us.  The 
word  electricity  Is  a  good  illustration  of  this.  It 
stands  for  a  marvelous  invisible  reality  of  power, 
but  the  bare  word  does  not  in  the  least  tell  anyone 
what  this  power  Is.  So  with  the  word  God.  We 
must  have  some  symbol  to  stand  for  the  Power,  or 
Life,  or  whatever  unknown  mystery  It  is,  which  is 

262 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  263 

behind  all  things.  We  cannot  always  be  saying  the 
Unknowable  or  Nature.  Any  and  every  word  is 
only  provisional  and  conceals  the  beginning  of  an 
assumption.  Is  not  the  assumption  of  the  idea  of 
God  a  sort  of  necessity  of  thought? 

The  fact  is  that  we  know  more  than  we  think. 
Certain  great  words  and  ideas  are  alive  in  us  and 
fill  the  literature  of  the  world.  Power,  Will, 
Beauty,  Mind,  Purpose,  Integrity,  Goodness,  the 
Universe,  Life  —  each  and  all  of  them  are  assump- 
tions of  knowable  reality;  they  spring  out  of  a  world 
of  experience  in  which  we  have  shared.  Every  one 
of  them  flames  up  Into  view  from  Its  invisible 
source  toward  heights  of  infinity.  Try  to  keep 
them  inside  bounds  and  limits.  If  you  want  to  see 
why  we  have  to  add  the  word  Infinite  to  them.  You 
can  make  a  child  understand  the  difference  between 
limited  and  infinite  power.  If  you  think,  be  bold 
in  your  thinking,  as  those  who  expect  to  find  some- 
thing worth  while. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  we  set  forth  well-known 
facts  of  experience  which  impress  us  with  the  idea 
of  a  spiritual  universe.  To  say  Righteousness  with 
Huxley,  or  Truth,  Beauty  and  Goodness  with 
Haeckel,  Is  to  enter  the  gate  of  this  realm  of  the 
spirit.  True  men  always  confess  that  here  is  the 
deepest  reality  we  know.  God  Is  our  word  to  cover 
It.  To  say  with  the  children  "  Mother  Nature,"  to 
describe  how  just  she  is,  how  nothing  can  cheat  her 
or  escape  her  sight  or  despise  her  laws.  Is  another 
picture  method  of  saying  what  the  bottommost  real- 


264  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

ity  Is.     To  say  **  The  Father  In  Heaven  "  is  a  para- 
ble of  the  "  Eternal  Goodness." 

In  short,  we  do  the  same  thing  In  the  realm  of 
the  spirit,  with  the  facts  of  the  spirit,  that  we  do 
with  the  world  of  matter  and  visible  things.  We 
take  a  word  to  cover  the  mysterious  substance  of 
which  our  bodies  are  made,  and  the  stars  likewise. 
Who  knows  what  it  is?  It  is  more  elusive,  the  more 
you  seek  to  put  your  scientific  finger  upon  it.  It 
may  be  force  or  will.  It  may  indeed,  for  aught 
we  know,  be  a  form  of  spirit.  But  for  practical 
purposes  and  the  uses  of  thinking,  it  is  a  reality, 
and  seems  in  its  innumerable  shapes  and  colors 
to  be  but  one  in  essence.  Whatever  It  is,  you 
cannot  get  rid  of  it,  or  make  believe  that  It  has 
no  existence,  or  break  its  ruling  laws.  Is  It  mere  ir- 
rational assumption  that  we  talk  thus  of  matter? 
We  think  not.  It  is  no  more  irrational  when  we 
say:  "We  believe  in  God."  We  cannot  con- 
veniently and  successfully  think  In  either  case  with- 
out this  assumption. 

The  great  question  Is  not  whether  reality,  or  God, 
exists,  but  rather,  what  kind  of  reality,  or  God,  is 
it?  Is  it  —  or  He  —  good?  Does  it  make  any 
difference  to  us  whether  "He"  exists  or  not?  In 
any  real  sense,  does  He  care  for  the  tiny  creatures  of 
the  dust?  Is  approach  or  communion  with  Him 
possible?  These  are  the  questions  of  religion. 
Many  men  to-day  are  in  trouble  about  them,  and 
others  are  indifferent  to  them,  as  if  they  had  made 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  "  265 

up  their  minds  to  the  negative  side  without  think- 
ing at  all ! 

We  talk  about  mind  and  goodness  and  justice  and 
purpose  In  the  world.  What  depths  there  are  be- 
neath these  words !  Can  any  one  conceive  of  ab- 
stract justice  or  goodness,  or  blind  and  Impersonal 
purpose?  Every  one  of  these  words  helps  to  de- 
scribe life;  they  are  unreal  as  a  corpse  unless  we 
ascribe  life  to  them.  They  are  all  personal  words. 
I  mean  personal  not  in  the  small  sense  of  limited  be- 
ing, but  in  the  large  sense  of  that  which  lives  and 
thinks  and  feels  and  cares  and  loves;  which  Is  one, 
however  infinite  it  is  in  its  forms.  How  can  good- 
ness or  a  purpose  exist  except  In  a  person?  We 
men,  besides  the  little  finite  person,  through  which 
we  are  seen  and  heard,  carry  along  something  of  the 
idea  or  image  of  a  greater  person,  the  best  self,  the 
real  and  Infinite  person  in  ourselves.  In  which  we 
share  life  with  other  men  and  with  the  vaster  life  or 
person,  the  soul  of  reality,  at  the  heart  of  things, 
from  whom  our  lives  spring.  In  one  sense  of  the 
word  person  we  mean  that  in  which  we  differ  from 
every  other  person.  In  a  deeper  sense  we  mean 
that  in  which  we  are  one  with  every  person. 

The  utter  dependence  of  our  lives  upon  the  un- 
known creative  source  Is  one  of  the  most  startling 
of  all  facts.  If  one  thing  Is  certain  It  Is  that  we  do 
not  account  for  ourselves,  and  least  of  all,  for  those 
things  In  us  that  make  us  men  —  our  minds,  our 
hearts,  our  highest  purpose.  The  noblest  men  never 
made  themselves  and  cannot  account  for  themselves. 


266  A  RELIGIOxN   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

except  in  dependence  upon  some  higher  power. 
They  go  back  into  the  unknown  reality  of  spirit  for 
all  that  they  are.  At  their  best,  they  have  watched, 
studied,  asked  questions,  listened  for  monitions  and 
warnings,  caught  ideas  handed  over  to  them,  wit- 
nessed visions,  taken  on  the  motion  and  momentum 
of  a  purpose  not  their  own,  till  they  have  discovered 
it  and  possessed  themselves  with  a  love  and  good 
will  upon  which  they  have  rested  as  eternal  and  in- 
finite. If  this  ray  of  life  or  person  in  the  highest 
forms  in  which  we  know  it  cannot  account  for  it- 
self, if  it  did  not  make  itself  in  the  greatest  intellect 
that  man  has  ever  showed,  but  goes  back  to  its 
source  in  something  infinitely  more  creative  in  power, 
surely  no  agency  in  all  the  mighty  stream  of  evolu- 
tionary life  can  account  for  itself.  The  anhnal- 
ciilae  cannot  account  for  themselves,  nor  the  atoms; 
lifeless  matter  cannot  account  for  life:  evolution,  a 
name  to  cover  a  mystery,  is  itself  to  be  accounted 
for.  Nothing  which  is  can  be  accounted  for  or  ex- 
pressed by  that  which  is  less  than  itself.  Person 
in  man  cannot  be,  without  surplusage  of  person  out 
of  which  man  is  born  or  evolved. 

We  say  cannot,  not  without  modesty.  What 
are  our  feeble  minds  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
mystery?  Yet  think  we  must,  and  if  we  think  at 
all,  we  must  trust  our  minds.  Our  minds  are  some- 
how so  made,  and  they  follow  such  lines  or  laws  of 
action,  that  we  have  to  pronounce  judgments  of 
credible  and  incredible,  of  more  or  less  satisfying, 
upon  all  kinds  of  propositions  for  the  guidance  of 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  267 

life.  My  mind  finds  it  incredible  to  think  of  force 
or  matter  as  constructive  and  eternally  at  work  apart 
from  mind,  purpose,  will,  spirit  —  the  eternal  master 
of  matter  and  force.  I  find  it  incredible  that  evolu- 
tion should  begin  of  itself.  I  find  the  proposition 
preposterous  that  mere  evolution  without  directing 
mind,  or  purpose,  or  good  will  at  the  heart  of  it, 
should  either  start  of  itself  or  be  found  grinding  out 
endless  worlds  with  infinite  populations  of  beings 
like  us,  and  grinding  them  over  again  like  so  much 
wood  pulp,  without  any  intelligent  result.  I  find 
it  incredible  that  dependent  life  like  ours  could  be 
born  or  made  without  independent  and  self-existent 
life,  infinite  to  work  its  will. 

When  they  said  that  the  earth  rested  on  a  tor- 
toise or  a  succession  of  tortoises,  it  had  still  to  be 
asked  where  the  first  tortoise  got  his  support.  But 
my  mind  rests  on  the  thought  —  everything  rational 
urges  me  to  it  —  of  a  Being,  a  Spirit,  a  Life,  a  Will, 
which  is  and  always  was,  in  and  behind  all  things, 
not  dependent,  but  sharing  its  life,  self-existent  for- 
ever. Nothing  else  satisfies  me,  nothing  but  a  fun- 
damental Unity  accounts  for  a  man  or  a  universe. 
When  I  say  accounts  for,  I  do  not  mean  that 
there  is  no  fringe  of  wonder  and  ultimate  mystery, 
which  no  man  has  fathomed.  Least  of  all  do  I 
mean  that  our  minds  can  ever  cease  to  search  and 
ask  questions  and  sound  the  depths. 

Our  minds  not  only  demand  rationality,  but  they 
demand  quite  as  much  order,  intelligibility,  signifi- 
cance.    They  will  not  put  up  with  nonsense  as  the 


268  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE   NEW  DAY 

result  of  their  work.  Our  minds  are  so  far  to  be 
respected  for  this.  Our  minds  are  the  creations  of 
the  Universal  Life,  presumably  therefore  "  after 
the  image  "  of  whatever  greater  mind  brought  them 
to  birth.  Grant  the  mighty  conception  of  God  with 
all  that  this  name  carries,  you  would  expect  just 
what  you  have  —  a  kind  of  mind  in  man  that  *'  cries 
out  for  God,  for  the  living  God,"  and  can  never  be 
at  ease  without  Him.  Our  minds,  in  short,  in  their 
boldest  demands,  fit  the  Universe  to  which  they  be- 
long. They  rest  as  they  ought  to  rest,  only  so  far 
as  they  find  order,  purpose,  good  will,  unity,  spirit, 
person,  whom  they  may  call  Father.  Try  anything 
else  or  less,  and  the  mind  never  can  be  satisfied  long. 

There  are  those,  of  whom  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  is  a 
popular  preacher,  and  to  whose  views  Bergson  and 
others  have  given  a  certain  support,  who  tell  us  of 
a  God  in  process  of  growth,  a  somewhat  blind  cre- 
ative power,  feeling  his  way,  liable  to  mistake,  dis- 
appointment and  defeat,  needing  our  help.  May  I 
suggest  that  this  thought  is  a  tentative  and  provi- 
sional effort  of  minds  to  whom  the  bare  name  of 
God  has  never  yet  conveyed  any  meaning,  to  whom 
the  God  of  the  churches  has  never  spoken,  who  are 
feeling  perhaps  for  the  first  time  the  great  human 
need  of  a  spiritual  reality  shining  out  from  behind 
a  world  of  mere  successions  of  things?  Mr.  Wells 
evidently  feels  this  need  increasingly.  It  is  a  sign 
of  reality  as  of  something  about  to  come  to  light, 
when   the   watcher   among  the   stars   observes   the 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  269 

drawing  gravitation  of  the  unseen  planet.  So  it  is 
a  sign  of  awareness  to  reality  that  men's  minds  are 
coming  to  feel  the  drawing  gravitation  toward  the 
unseen  but  living  God.  Their  thought  of  God  as 
making  us  sharers  in  the  practical  processes  of  civil- 
ization, and  as  suffering  with  us,  being  thus  a  more 
complete  reality  than  an  impassive  God  could  be,  is 
doubtless  an  echo  of  the  older  thought  —  at  least 
as  old  as  the  splendid  conception  of  the  Suffering 
Leader  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  too  rarely  proclaimed 
even  yet.  The  idea  is  that  the  richness  and  fullness 
of  spiritual  life  in  God  or  man  are  "  made  perfect 
In  suffering  " ;  that  is,  In  sympathy.  No  abstract  or 
lonely  God  can  suffice.  The  purpose  of  creation  as 
the  work  of  good  will  is  necessarily  a  process  of 
sharing.  To  call  men  children  of  God  is  to  affirm 
that  we  share  all  that  we  have,  that  the  enterprise 
of  life  is  the  mighty  effort  of  co-operation. 

Few  men  can  long  rest  at  ease  with  a  partial,  fee- 
ble, ffnite,  blundering,  "  sweating,"  possibly  sinning, 
deity.  Better  so,  perhaps,  than  to  see  no  God  at  all. 
But  we  find  sooner  or  later  an  urgency  in  our  minds 
that  pushes  out  higher,  wider,  deeper.  We  cannot 
worship  a  finite  being.  The  real  God  must  see  be- 
yond and  above  our  frailties,  our  disappointments, 
our  blundering,  our  frequent  seeming  defeat  and  be 
all  the  more  patient  with  us.  We  want  no  child- 
God.  He  must  be  trustworthy,  beyond  our  doubts 
and  suspicions,  as  no  half-civilized  creature  can  be. 
He  must  personify  Integrity;  in  short,  he  must  be  al- 
together worshipful.     But  this  pro  tempore  deity  of 


270  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

the  biologists  has  no  beauty  in  him  that  he  should 
be  desired.  He  is  not  even  up  to  the  mark  of  the 
best  men  whom  we  know !  Born  in  time,  he  cannot 
be  himself  an  original  creator.  Clough's  lines,  I 
believe,  express  a  deeper  instinct  and  a  more  normal 
faith: 

"It  stablishes  my  soul  to  know  that  though  I  perish,  truth 

is  so; 
That  howsoe'er  I  stray  and  range,  whate'er  I  do  Thou  dost 

not  change; 
I  steadier  step  when  I  recall  that  though  I  slip,  Thou  dost 

not  fall." 

Are  there  minds  which  have  no  instinctive  long- 
ing to  find  unity  and  to  attain  themselves  to  unity? 
There  are  some  who,  as  if  turning  back  the  normal 
process  of  intellectual  development,  offer  us  a  sort  of 
pantheon  of  plural  powers  or  deities !  Mr.  William 
James  was  fond  of  this  suggestion,  but  never  satis- 
fied with  it.  Dr.  Felix  Adler  suggests  it.  But  Mr. 
James  in  his  most  eloquent  passages  seems  to  say 
that  unity  is  better  than  pluralism  and  may  yet  be 
discovered.  And  Dr.  Adler's  spiritual  pluralism  is 
in  itself  a  sort  of  unity  of  thought,  ideal,  and  ruling 
purpose.  How  shall  many  social  wills  combine,  un- 
less under  the  urgency  of  a  higher  unifying  will? 
Can  there  be  a  "  principle  "  of  goodness  or  harmony 
that  does  not  subsist  in,  and  suggest,  the  thought  of 
a  living  person,  the  One  God  in  whom  all  spiritual 
beings  must  find  their  unity?  The  realm  of  the 
spirit  is  one. 

It  is  likely  that  much  of  the  shyness  of  mind  which 


WHY   WE  SAY   GOD  271 

men  show  at  accepting  the  thought  of  God  is  the 
survival  of  the  ancient  dualism  that  shadowed  the 
world  with  its  fear  of  evil  power,  Ahriman  or  Satan, 
competing  against  the  good  Ormuzd.  How  could 
the  Living  God  possess  power  and  yet  tolerate  evil? 
We  have  ventured  in  previous  chapters  to  follow 
evil  into  its  hiding  places,  and  we  have  found  no- 
where a  malign  power  or  principle  of  evil  in  the  uni- 
verse. We  have  found  instead  a  tremendous  law 
of  contrast  and  cost  and  effort,  of  struggle  and 
finiteness,  without  which  we  cannot  conceive  that 
man  could  attain  the  unspeakable  boon  of  spiritual 
life.  Not  infinite  power  could  abrogate  this  law. 
What  possible  holding  place  has  any  dual  or  plural 
thought  of  the  world,  by  the  side  of  the  Unity,  the 
Perfectness,  the  Self-Existence,  of  the  One  Person? 
The  word  universe  is  a  constant  witness  to  the  ex- 
pectation and  demand  of  the  mind  to  discover  unity 
at  the  heart  of  things.  The  mind  itself  is  thus  seen 
to  be  the  child  of  the  one  unifying  mind,  without 
which  no  universe  could  be.  The  manifoldness  of 
things  does  not  tell  us  of  unity.  This  unity  is  it- 
self the  child  of  intelligence  or  good  will. 

The  human  mind  may  well  strain  and  ache  before 
the  vast  problems  of  existence,  of  space  and  time, 
of  eternity  and  self-existence.  To  name  God,  to 
believe  in  God,  does  not  end  or  answer  these  rack- 
ing questions.  That  we  still  ask  them  is  a  mark  not 
so  much  of  our  littleness  as  of  the  infinite  nature 
within  us.     Grant  then  that,  with  all  our  faith  in 


272  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

God,  we  look  out  on  unsearchable  depths  of  being. 
Is  there  any  way  of  honest  thought  that  serves  our 
minds  better  than  the  way  we  are  following,  or  does 
not  leave  the  same  abysses  of  inquiry  and  specula- 
tion? It  is  easy  to  doubt  or  ask  questions.  But 
thinking  itself  is  vain  except  to  discuss  foundations, 
laws,  principles,  order,  unity  and  so  to  construct  the 
working  values  of  life.  Who  will  give  us  any  other 
positive  or  constructive  idea  so  real,  promising,  us- 
able, rational,  beautiful,  the  fit  basis  for  such  practi- 
cal life,  ethics,  institutions  and  religion;  so  harmoni- 
ous with  the  broadest  teachings  of  nature,  of  human 
history,  of  personal  experience,  as  is  the  thought  of 
God,  set  forth  and  pursued  from  old  time  by  the 
most  comprehensive  of  thinkers,  sung  by  great  poets, 
lifting  also  the  minds  of  multitudes  of  modest  and 
true-hearted  men  and  women,  and  establishing  in 
them  courage  and  hope !  Find  us  anything  else 
half  so  persuasive  !  No  one  has  done  it.  Why  not, 
then,  believe  in  God,  as  our  souls  urge  us  to  do? 
This,  I  think,  is  the  voice  of  the  highest  reason. 

Moreover,  we  find  profound  hints  and  suggestions 
about  God  —  the  Universe  Life  —  in  ourselves,  as 
we  should  expect,  if  in  some  true  sense  we  are  its 
children.  Thus  we  find  in  ourselves  a  curious  fact 
of  doubleness.  There  is  first  the  outside,  or  grow- 
ing self,  swaying  in  its  growth  between  pleasure  and 
pain,  between  good  and  evil,  success  and  failure  — 
the  little  self,  seen  in  varying  aspects  and  processes. 
Underneath  this  appears  a  certain  kernel  of  reality, 
a  sort  of  impersonal  self,  with  which  we  have  to  be- 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  273 

come  slowly  acquainted;  in  the  presence  of  which, 
like  an  alter  ego^  we  possess  for  the  time  stability, 
confidence,  harmony;  without  which,  at  least  in  these 
glimpses  of  a  higher  being  within  us,  we  could  not 
be  fully  men;  that  is,  our  best  selves.  In  our  best 
friends,  in  the  most  complete  and  noble  lives,  we 
catch  gleams  behind  the  veil,  of  the  same  fact  of  a 
sort  of  second  alter  ego  wiser  and  better  than  that 
which  shows  itself  on  the  surface.  The  gleam  of 
this  better  self  marks  the  ground  of  our  friendship 
and  reverence  for  them.  That  in  ourselves  which 
is  constant,  true,  honest,  which  demands  confidence, 
sympathy  and  permanence,  finds  in  the  other  endur- 
ing reality  that  it  needs.  Too  often  the  outer, 
smaller  self  is  not  alive  and  awake  and  "  all  there  " 
in  its  work;  it  flickers  like  a  candle.  The  other  is 
always  the  same:  one  with  conscience,  one  with 
reason,  one  with  good  will.  Though  it  reveals  it- 
self by  gleams  and  moments  —  in  the  highest  experi- 
ences of  life  —  it  also  transcends  all  that  we  expe- 
rience and  assures  us  of  infinite  reserves  of  reality 
beyond  ourselves  or  the  greatest  of  human  friends. 

This  fact  of  the  doubleness  in  ourselves  —  the 
little  changing  or  phenomenal  self,  and  the  real  and 
stable  self,  the  spiritual  kernel,  is  suggestive  of  what 
thoughtful  men  mean  in  speaking  of  God  sometimes, 
as  at  one  and  the  same  time  "  immanent  "  in  life 
and  again  as  "  transcendent."  On  one  side  Is  a  uni- 
verse groaning  and  travailing  In  pain,  the  world  of 
happenings  and  phenomena.  But  God  Is  immanent 
in  it.     It  could  not  be  at  all  without  him.     He  is 


-274  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

immanent  or  present  in  everything  that  moves. 
But  on  this  side,  the  side  of  finite  and  growing  things, 
the  side  of  manifestation,  picture  and  parable,  he 
is  not  altogether  present,  any  more  than  he  was  in 
the  story  of  Moses'  vision  on  Mt.  Sinai.  Things, 
finiteness,  childishness,  cannot  contain  him.  The 
highest  men  of  Moses'  time  could  see  law,  but  they 
could  not  understand  God  as  Love,  greater  than 
law.  The  price  to  be  paid  for  that  which  grows 
is  that  it  begins  with  only  a  particle  of  power,  or 
beauty  or  sense  or  will  or  reality.  As  it  grows  with 
the  light,  enough  is  given  us  daily  to  urge  us  to  hun- 
ger and  thirst  after  more.  Every  parent  or  teacher 
knows  how  this  is.  You  cannot  give  your  child  your 
full  thought,  but  only  so  much  broken  thought  as 
his  mind  may  need. 

This  inevitable  finiteness  is  another  aspect  of  what 
we  call  "  evil " :  it  is  what  Browning  calls  "  the 
blessed  evil."  The  world,  as  it  is  now,  lives  through 
the  breath  of  the  immanent  God,  but  it  hardly  sees 
anything  real  and  complete :  it  sees  only  through  the 
haze  of  its  finiteness.  God  is  in  the  wind,  but  this 
is  only  a  bit  of  his  power.  God  is  in  the  fire  and  the 
earthquake,  but  his  beauty  is  not  visible  yet;  life 
from  God  is  in  the  serpent  with  its  beautiful  mo- 
tion and  the  splendid  colors  of  its  skin,  and  in  the 
clear  white  teeth  of  the  wolf,  but  his  goodness  can- 
not be  there.  God  is  in  the  fierceness  of  the  battle 
as  the  driving  energy,  but  man's  awful  rage  is  the 
viinus  sign  of  reality.  They  are  not  men  yet,  who 
do  such  things  to  each  other;  good  will  born  of 


WHY  WE  SAY  GOD  275 

God  makes  the  man;  the  want  of  good  will  is  the 
mark  of  the  beast.  The  evil  in  every  case  is  that 
God  in  his  power,  beauty,  wisdom,  justice,  mercy, 
sympathy,  is  not  all  there  in  the  animal  life,  in  the 
child,  in  the  savage,  in  the  half-civilized  nations. 
You  cannot  have  God  for  nothing,  or  till  you  become 
able  with  open  mind  and  heart  to  receive  and  long 
for  him  in  the  amplitude  of  his  truth  and  goodness. 
This  thought  steers  clear  away  from  the  idea  that 
God  is  evolving  and  growing.  His  world  has  to 
grow,  as  you  and  I  grow.  It  is  we  who  must 
grow  till  we  find  how  utterly  hollow  life  is  without 
God. 

The  transcendent  God,  the  constant,  the  real,  the 
perfect,  is  above  and  beyond  finite  growth.  The 
best  and  real  self,  the  kernel  of  reality  in  me,  which 
flashes  itself  upon  me  at  times,  does  not  grow.  It 
seems  rather  as  if  it  were  always  there  in  its  integrity 
from  young  childhood  upward,  prompting  wonder- 
ful questions,  watching  while  I  slept,  patient  when 
I  went  astray,  ever  ready  to  clasp  me  to  a  closer 
harmony  between  my  little  finite  growing  self  and 
the  reality  of  the  Universe. 

We  have  observed  already  that  prayer  —  if  prayer 
is  the  right  word  to  use  —  is  within  us.  Just  so  far 
as  you  or  I  commit  ourselves  to  the  living  God 
within,  so  far  power  and  peace  possess  us,  and  make 
us  impregnable  and  indestructible.  But  this  is  no 
mere  formula  to  recite.  It  means  education  for 
life;  it  means  continual  practice  and  a  whole  new 
range  of  beautiful  habits. 


Ill 

THE    ETERNAL    LIFE 

"  GOD  CREATED  MAN  TO  BE  IMMORTAL  AND  MADE  HIM  TO 
BE  AN  IMAGE  OF   HIS  OWN   ETERNITY."" 

Can  there  be  a  good  religion  without  any  idea  of 
immortality?  I  think  not,  and  I  wish  to  show  why. 
But  we  must  make  the  approach  to  this  answer  in  al- 
most a  new  manner  and  attitude.  We  must  not  try 
to  argue  a  case  and  expect  the  kind  of  demonstration 
that  compels  the  mind.  You  can  tell  amply  enough 
why  you  love  your  friend,  but  your  excellent  reasons 
may  not  make  another  person  feel  as  you  do.  We 
have  no  signs  or  wonders  to  adduce.  They  would 
themselves  need  proof.  Without  being  so  dogmatic 
as  to  deny  the  possibility  of  historic  or  objective  evi- 
dence, such  as  many  claim  to  find  in  resurrection 
stories  and  other  forms  of  intercourse  with  the  de- 
parted, I  frankly  confess  that  these  things  do  not 
appeal  to  me  as  establishing  the  marvelous  fact  of 
eternal  life.  If  we  men  can  share  such  a  majestic 
form  of  existence.  It  must  be  because  we  are  already 
in  the  way  of  enjoying  It.  Must  it  not  Itself  be  the 
core  of  reality  within  us,  and  grow  out  of  experiences 
in  our  earth?  It  is  a  fact  now,  In  some  sense  and 
some  measure,  if  it  ever  can  be  a  fact.     Voices  and 

276 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  277 

apparitions  and  mediumshlps  can  no  more  establish 
It  than  the  lack  of  them  could  take  it  away. 

In  short,  I  am  more  Interested  In  the  facts  and 
the  reality  which  we  find  now  than  In  the  future 
which  may  grow  out  of  these  facts.  I  doubt 
whether  a  night  was  ever  spent  In  alleged  converse 
with  the  spirits  of  the  dead  that  compares  with 
many  a  day,  when  in  the  light  of  this  present  earth 
a  man  at  his  best  sees  the  world  at  its  best,  and 
echoes  the  ancient  word,  "Behold,  it  is  good!" 
The  stoutest  believers  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  are  in  no  haste,  we  observe,  to  exchange  this 
earth  for  heaven !  I  do  not  see  that  they  possess 
any  more  precious  certainty  about  a  future  life  than 
I  have,  or  enjoy  a  happier  hope  with  regard  to  It. 
Let  us  frankly  call  It  hope,  and  not  assurance.  In 
which  case  It  would  not  be  hope. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  I  approach  the  mystic  cur- 
tain, from  beyond  which  I  never  saw  a  man  re- 
turn, the  considerations  that  move  my  mind  to  a 
deepening  and  restful  hope  become  extremely  Im- 
pressive.    Let  me  try  briefly  to  express  this  hope. 

I  think  of  death  as  bringing  us  no  harm;  It  is  nec- 
essary; it  is  In  the  great  plan  of  life;  I  would  not 
choose,  if  I  could,  to  be  exempt  from  it;  It  seems  to 
hold  a  place  for  good  and  not  for  evil.  Let  It  dis- 
solve my  body;  though  I  now  possess  my  body,  I  do 
not  think  of  it  as  myself.  The  body  Is  a  thing,  or  a 
composite  of  many  things,  which  I  can  weigh  and 
measure.  No  one  can  weigh  and  measure  me;  I 
am  not  a  thing,  but  a  person.     I  must  say  spirit,  for 


278  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

want  of  any  other  term  to  describe  the  inward  real- 
ity which  can  know  itself,  with  which  I  have  become 
somewhat  acquainted  through  all  the  years  of  my 
life,  which  still  at  its  best  strikes  me  anew  with  its 
wonder.  I  find  no  particle  of  evidence  that  death 
can  touch  me.  I  do  not  belong  to  the  dissoluble 
realm  of  death.  As  a  learned  scientific  friend  once 
remarked,  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  life  might  go 
on  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  sun,  and  if  life  at  all, 
then  happy  and  significant  life.  I  cannot  indeed 
comprehend  by  what  kind  of  bridge  I  may  be  made 
to  pass  from  this  form  of  life  to  another.  How 
should  I  understand?  I  do  not  in  the  least  under- 
stand the  processes  and  stages  of  life  and  thought 
through  which  I  have  thus  far  come.  The  fact  of 
my  own  birth  into  this  world  is  as  great  a  "  miracle  " 
to  me  as  the  birth  of  a  Christ  was  ever  thought 
to  be. 

Meanwhile,  ever  since  clearness  of  consciousness 
awoke  in  me,  I  have  seemed  like  one  set  here  to  fight 
under  the  flag  of  an  infinite  and  unseen,  yet  impres- 
sively felt  and  realized  spirit  or  master  of  life,  with 
whom  I  bear  kinship.  The  net  result  and  interpre- 
tation of  all  my  experiences  bring  me  pretty  solidly 
to  this  conviction.  I  find  nothing  else  so  solid;  I 
return  to  this  after  letting  my  mind  roam  as  it  may 
in  every  direction.  No  words  or  definitions  are 
enough,  but  what  can  I  say  more  accurately  to  ex- 
press my  thought  than  that  I  find  myself  a  sort  of 
heir-apparent,  the  creation  or  child  of  the  ruling 
life-force  of  the  world?     Is  not  the  name  —  Father 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  279 

Almighty — as  good  as  any  name  can  be?  In  the 
light  of  this  thought  playing  on  all  the  facts,  death 
is  only  a  servant  or  a  means  of  the  Master  of  Life 
—  a  negative  thing  at  the  most.  Here  and  now  I 
belong  to  the  realm  of  life  and  spirit.  Neither  can  I 
see  anything  so  intelligent  to  do  as  to  hold  firm  to 
the  last  my  faith  in  Life,  the  reality.  When  I  die, 
I  am  bound,  as  the  great  Roman  Emperor  said,  to 
"  die  standing,"  that  is,  with  my  face  still  toward 
the  eternal  and  beautiful  things,  life  and  light. 
Why  should  I  act  and  think  for  seventy  years  as  if 
life,  and  more  life,  not  death,  were  before  me,  and 
change  over  and  turn  my  back  upon  life !  The  ac- 
tion of  light  on  my  mind,  the  facts  brought  to  light 
afford  no  ray  of  reason  why  I  should  change  the  di- 
rection of  my  life.  This  I  say  In  general;  it  is  not 
the  most  that  I  can  say,  but  the  least,  or  that  which 
I  can  always  say  In  the  face  of  the  blackest  demons 
of  doubt  and  denial.  They  fall  back  before  this 
view  of  the  subject. 

I  go  on  to  state  not  arguments,  with  which  men 
dispute,  but  the  immense  considerations  which  move 
me,  and  especially  when  I  am  at  my  best,  with  my 
heart  and  soul  and  mind  working  In  accord.  These 
same  considerations  also  tend  to  call  me  to  my  best, 
when  on  occasion  I  have  fallen  away. 

In  the  first  place,  this  idea  of  life  as  lord  over 
death,  life  the  reality  and  death  its  shadow,  life  con- 
tinuous and  death  an  Incident,  Is  harmonious  with 
everything  else  most  significant  In  the  universe.  It 
fits  the  nature  of  the  universe,  Itself  ultimately  a 


2  8o  A   RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

meaningful  harmony  and  unity.  Even  our  bodies 
dissolving  never  dissolve  into  nothingness,  but  rather 
go  on  again  into  the  material  world  out  of  which 
the  building  life  evolved  them;  they  still  have  their 
uses.  Shall  the  spiritual  selves  which  this  material 
only  served  alone  perish!  This  does  not  fit,  or 
match  with,  the  worth  and  unity  of  the  universe. 
Fitness  or  harmony  is  a  test  of  the  truth  and  whole- 
ness of  things,  as  emptiness  or  ugliness  is  a  mark  of 
untruth  or  partialness.  A  universe  calls  for  the  idea 
of  significance.  Shall  it  grind  on  forever  for  noth- 
ing? This  is  to  do  less  than  its  creatures,  which 
would  be  to  fail.  Shall  it  produce  its  most  notable 
fruitage  only  to  destroy  It?  This  is  not  worthy  of 
the  marvelous  cost  and  glory  of  its  processes.  This 
is  to  do  worse  despite  to  its  heroes  and  saints  than 
their  enemies  could  ever  do.  For  while  their  ene- 
mies thought  enough  of  them  to  abuse  them,  and 
put  them  to  death,  the  great  mother  life,  on  this 
shocking  supposition,  does  not  care  enough  for  them, 
or  see  sufficient  use  In  them,  to  give  them  tenantcy 
in  her  vast  spaces.  I  say  the  mind  cannot  abide 
this  disharmony! 

T  say  nothing  about  the  supposed  desire  of  men, 
born  in  them,  for  continuance  of  life.  This  may 
mean  little  or  nothing;  It  varies  In  different  persons, 
being  often  quite  slight.  It  may  be  nothing  more 
than  the  life-instinct  to  keep  on,  which  the  dumb 
creatures  share  with  us.  But  a  deeper  fact  lies  be- 
hind It;  namely,  the  congrulty  of  the  Idea  of  eternal 
life  with  the  nature,  and  especially  the  spiritual  real- 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  281 

ity  In  us.  This  best  in  us  hungers  for  use  and  serv- 
ice; herein  Is  its  life.  This  desire  Is  not  only  In  the 
few;  It  Is  In  the  hearts  of  the  many.  We  can  endure 
hurts,  disappointments,  sorrows,  and  bear  ourselves 
still  as  men  and  be  happy,  provided  we  have  worth 
in  the  world.  This  deep  craving  to  count  for  some- 
thing worth  while,  to  do  for  the  universe,  as  all 
other  lower  orders  of  creatures  do  something,  not 
merely  to  live  upon  its  bounty,  but  to  enrich  Its  life, 
is  of  the  spiritual  nature.  I  hold  It  to  be  of  pro- 
phetic significance.  But  what  If  nature  herself,  set- 
ting the  mark  of  annihilation  upon  us,  pronounces 
us  useless?  What  If  nature,  so  Infinitely  full  of  re- 
sources In  this  finite  earth,  can  find  nothing  worth 
while  for  us  to  be  or  do  and  only  stupidly  dismisses 
us !  This  reduces  nature  to  the  level  of  vulgar  friv- 
olity. Not  for  our  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  universe,  to  which  we  belong,  we  should  be 
ashamed  of  it. 

Some  one  may  say,  Is  it  not  enough,  both  worthy 
and  useful,  for  brave  and  true  men  to  go  on  living 
in  their  children,  or  in  the  composite  life  of  hu- 
manity? Does  not  George  Eliot's  "  Choir  Invis- 
ible "  with  its  call  to  let  self  go  and  serve  the  un- 
known future  of  mankind  thrill  one's  soul?  But  If, 
as  this  implies,  our  great  memories  and  Ideals  are 
reality,  must  It  not  be  that  the  universe  which  created 
them  rings  true?  What  then  If  this  shadowy  earth 
immortality  runs  out  after  a  few  more  millenniums 
Into  the  weary  and  hopeless  old  age  of  the  planet, 
and  the  stark  wraith  of  death  stands  ready  to  swal- 


282  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

low  all  life  at  the  end.  Would  not  this  be  ultimate 
defeat?  The  glorious  life-power  that  has  brought 
us  here  to  share  its  nature,  has  created  us  to  be  hon- 
est, to  be  real  and  sober-minded,  and  to  expect 
truth,  not  mockery,  as  the  outcome  of  Its  costly  proc- 
esses. 

We  strike  here  upon  one  of  the  most  marvelous 
thoughts  in  man's  mind,  itself  the  creation  or  child 
of  the  universe.  We  carry  a  notion  of  the  infinite 
and  eternal.  It  is  one  of  the  uppermost  products 
of  the  growth  of  our  manhood.  We  cannot  abide 
finite  limits,  at  least  in  our  thought.  We  straight- 
way overpass  the  finite  and  cry  out  for  that  which 
is  beyond.  We  seem  therein  to  belong  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  infinite;  that  is,  of  spirit,  mind,  thought, 
goodness.  Bring  us  then  to  the  brink  of  the  death 
of  the  material  world  and  let  us  there  face  an  im- 
passable gulf  —  the  hopeless  passing  into  nothing- 
ness of  every  object  of  worth,  the  old  earth  dead, 
death  ruling  a  vacancy;  and  we  stand  back  with  only 
a  more  severe  shock  of  abhorrence  than  we  felt  at 
the  supposition  of  the  annihilation  of  the  individual 
life.  The  wonder  of  the  processes  of  life  over 
against  their  futility!  The  power  and  intelligence 
so  infinite,  and  the  product  so  empty!  Every- 
where below  the  lesser  goes  on  and  up  to  serve  the 
greater,  and  the  greater  learns  to  serve  the  humble, 
but  here  at  last  all  goes  for  nothing!  Everywhere 
below  stands  forth  the  thought  of  use  and  service, 
inspiring  human  lives,  but  the  unseen  Power  out  of 
which  the  inspiring  thought  was  born  at  last  spurns 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  283 

its  offspring!  Even  so,  the  matter  and  the  force 
persist,  while  that  which  gave  worth  and  dignity  to 
their  movements  goes  down  to  death!  We  simply 
cannot  believe  anything  so  ill  of  the  universe;  we 
cannot  conceive  that  such  intelKgence  as  made  us  to 
think  should  prove  so  foolish. 

Thus  every  time  we  stand  at  the  fork  of  the  roads 
and  look  down  the  path  that  forebodes  ultimate 
death,  our  minds  are  thrown  back  by  an  instinct  of 
overwhelming  revulsion,  as  if  the  life  in  our  souls 
called  it  forth,  and  we  seem  to  be  commanded  by  the 
"  Power  not  ourselves  "  to  take  the  open  way  again 
upward  toward  the  infinite  hope  and  life.  We  can- 
not take  any  other  way  and  live  and  think  worthily. 
We  must  respect  the  world  we  live  in.  We  must 
think  its  guiding  life  from  which  we  spring  grander, 
better,  more  utterly  trustworthy  than  we  ourselves 
are.  In  short,  we  must  think  that,  in  some  deep 
sense,  God  cares  and  will  always  care  for  us.  We 
come  to  care  too  much  for  God  not  to  think  this  of 
Him.  Herein,  again,  the  parts  match  and  fit,  as 
truth  requires.  The  inner  nature  meets  and  rests 
in  the  nature  of  God! 

A  second  impressive  consideration  which  urges  my 
mind  toward  the  hope  of  the  immortal  life  is  the  fact 
of  the  stupendous  and  endless  possibilities  here  and 
now  with  which  life,  and  specially  the  life  of  the 
mature  man,  is  crowded.  The  utmost  attainments 
of  the  most  advanced  men  never  come  up  with  these 
infinite  openings  into  the  future  in  every  branch  of 
thoughtful  life  —  the  possibilities  of  invention  and 


284  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

discovery,  of  science  In  its  ever-widening  depart- 
ments, of  the  uses  of  the  earth  and  everything  In  It, 
Its  flowers  and  fruits,  Its  beauties  of  scenery  In  every 
climate.  Its  wonders  of  the  desert  and  the  ocean. 
But  most  of  all  we  are  becoming  aware  of  Inner 
possibilities  even  In  the  average  man,  such  as  he  has 
hardly  touched,  the  possibilities  In  the  realm  of  the 
spirit,  of  friendships,  mutual  aid,  co-operation,  the 
construction  of  the  commonwealth  of  the  nations. 
Such  Is  the  nature  of  the  world  and  Its  life,  as  in 
this  stormiest  of  earth  weather  we  survey  the  pros- 
pect that  gleams  through  the  clouds.  We  are  still  a 
world  of  children,  only  beginning  to  come  into  our 
heritage. 

Now,  all  that  we  know  about  the  world  and  life 
gives  us  trust  and  hope,  as  in  Emerson's  thought,  to- 
ward what  we  do  not  yet  know.  For  the  universe  is 
of  a  piece.  It  does  not  yield  flowers  and  beauty 
only  so  far  as  our  short  sight  can  follow,  but  it 
startles  us  with  the  delicacy  and  perfectness  of  the 
tiniest  objects  that  we  had  never  noticed  before. 
Suns  and  stars  ever  appear  beyond  the  familiar  con- 
stellations. It  is  a  world  of  constructive  surprises. 
The  trend  of  all  is  in  one  way  toward  not  merely 
the  meeting  of  natural  expectations,  but  on  toward 
the  unexpected  and  transcendent.  Nature  is  always 
the  miracle-worker.  She  changes  the  evil  to  good; 
she  shows  us  her  secret  of  turning  our  seeming  evil 
to  the  credit  of  the  real  and  permanent. 

She  has  shown  us  what  can  be  done  with  disease, 
with  fire  and  flood,  with  seeming  defeat.     She  has 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  285 

opened  all  sorts  of  vistas  from  the  scene  of  our 
blunders  and  crimes,  and  used  evil  for  her  sublime 
purpose  of  a  better  manhood.  Shall  we  now  think 
that  all  this  stops  at  the  gate  of  death?  Have  the 
grand  prophecies  fallen  true  beyond  the  visions  of 
Amos  or  Isaiah,  and  shall  all  prophecies  perish  at 
the  touch  of  final  death?  Did  the  possibihties  of 
the  universe  for  the  growth  of  the  perfect  life  cul- 
minate in  one  man,  once  for  all,  only  to  come  to 
naught,  and  pass  away,  when  Jesus  hung  upon  the 
cross?  Again,  as  before,  there  appears  a  portal  of 
prophecy,  bigger  than  man  ever  saw,  bidding  us  say 
with  Paul:  "We  know  not  what  we  shall  be." 
And  we  know,  "  if  God  be  for  us  nothing  can  be 
against  us." 

I  have  made  nothing  of  the  element  of  justice  — 
of  due  rewards  and  punishments  for  those  who  are 
either  supposed  not  to  have  had  a  fair  chance  in 
this  world,  or  else  to  have  had  more  than  their  share. 
Thus  in  the  Old  Testament  much  has  been  made  of 
the  need  of  a  future  Hfe  to  straighten  out  the  crooked 
balances  of  this  world.  The  lofty  must  be  brought 
down  and  the  lowly  must  be  exalted.  This  does  not 
greatly  appeal  to  me.  Who  can  claim  that  he  de- 
serves anything  of  the  universe?  So  far  as  we  de- 
serve at  all  I  suspect  that  we  get  what  we  deserve 
as  we  go  along  and  more  besides.  But  I  do  not 
mean  pay  or  rewards  such  as  please  the  children  — 
medals,  prizes,  praises  and  marks;  or  what  older 
children  desire  —  money  and  station.     This  world 


286  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

is  not  a  series  of  great  competitive  Olympic  games; 
a  few  big  contestants  and  many  spectators:  it  is 
not  a  mercantile  establishment  offering  bargains; 
neither  is  it  a  penal  colony  where  most  are  doomed 
to  suffer.  It  is  a  world  of  opportunity  and  for 
all.  Does  the  Lord  of  life  do  the  best  possible 
for  all?  This  is  the  great  question  touching  the  jus- 
tice of  the  universe. 

It  is  a  bold  faith  no  doubt  to  say  Yes,  but  I  see 
nothing  more  rational  to  say  in  view  of  the  dense 
limits  of  this  finite  earth  within  which  omnipotence 
itself  must  work  in  bringing  creatures,  born  of  the 
dust,  to  the  wonderful  heights  of  companionship 
with  God.  I  am  content  with  this  as  my  hope. 
The  practical  question  with  every  man  is:  Am  I 
doing  my  part  to  co-operate  with  that  higher  spiritual 
life  acting  within  me  to  rear  a  man?  Never  a  step 
in  this  way  upward  that  does  not  bring  its  own  char- 
acteristic reward!  Not  a  fortune  and  a  round  of 
pleasure,  but  maturity  and  integrity  are  the  fitting 
reward  of  the  growing  child.  Spiritual  maturity  for 
the  largest  possible  number  is  reward  enough  for  all 
the  labors  and  sorrows  of  man.  But  spiritual  ma- 
turity belongs  to  the  realm  of  the  eternal.  How  can 
it  suffer  death? 

Another  fact  that  impresses  me  overwhelmingly 
is  the  nature  of  that  strange  but  most  vital  quality 
that  we  call  hope.  It  is  a  life  factor  in  some  form 
from  our  cradles  upward.  Not  to  possess  it  is  not 
fully  to  live,  and  therefore  not  to  be  strong  or  well  or 
good  for  much.     Of  course  it  is  always  subtly  chang- 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  287 

ing  its  object  as  we  grow  more  intelligent.  With 
the  child  it  lights  upon  bright  things  and  is  selfish 
accordingly.  But  what  wonderful  effects  it  pro- 
duces, what  deeds  of  daring  and  courage  and  endur- 
ing life  it  can  put  forth,  when  it  rises  to  the  sight  of 
the  spiritual  values  of  love,  comradeship,  passion  for 
justice  and  truth,  the  undying  ideals  of  a  noble  hu- 
manity which  alone  satisfy  its  quite  infinite  depths. 
Thus  the  hope  of  the  discoverer  plus  the  hope  of  the 
lover  of  men  gave  Livingstone  a  sort  of  charmed 
life  in  his  lonely  wanderings  in  the  heart  of  Africa. 
Nothing  can  daunt  this  kind  of  man.  This  purely 
spiritual  faculty  of  hope  shows  itself  over  and  over 
in  all  human  experience,  blazing  up  into  illustrious 
deeds,  into  poetry  and  art,  to  be  one  of  man's  great- 
est assets. 

Hope,  however,  like  all  the  spiritual  faculties, 
cannot  bear  barriers  or  limits.  It  cries  out  for  the 
infinite,  for  the  open  sky,  for  the  sight  of  the  stars, 
and  for  stars  beyond  stars.  Give  it  that  which  it 
seeks  and  it  looks  for  more  and  better.  Give  it  the 
joys  of  youth  and  it  seeks  the  ampler  business  and 
achievements  of  manhood.  Give  It  earth  and  It 
seeks  for  heaven  too.  It  will  not  be  baffled.  Close 
one  path  and  it  sees  light  to  find  another  and  better. 
Is  this  only  man's  conceit?  No,  hope  runs  freest 
when  it  is  clearest  of  conceit  or  selfishness.  It  would 
not  take  immortal  life  as  a  gift  for  itself,  but  its 
hope  Is  for  love's  sake;  it  is  as  wide  as  humanity. 

Poverty,  whether  of  material  things,  or  of  low 
spirits,  is  the  absence  of  hope.     The  pitiful  popula- 


288  A   RELIGION    FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

tions  of  the  earth  are  the  hopeless  ones.  Set  a  new 
hope  In  their  hearts  and  they  will  answer  to  the 
command  of  life  and  grow  strong  and  rich.  Give 
the  sick  man  a  new  prospect,  offer  him  hope  of  a 
worthier  life,  and  you  will  have  done  for  him  more 
than  medicine  can. 

But  the  hopes  of  men,  says  the  cynic,  are  so  fool- 
ish and  thoughtless !  Such  indeed  are  the  hopes  of 
the  childish.  What  else  would  you  expect?  Better 
so  than  no  hope  at  all.  Hope  at  its  highest,  how- 
ever, marches  with  thought  and  reason  to  construct 
and  to  find  integrity.  Not  the  idle  and  foolish  but 
the  wise  and  whole-hearted  are  the  men  and  women 
of  hope.  It  is  because  hope  cannot  be  satisfied  with 
the  material,  the  low  and  unreal,  that  it  sets  us  on 
the  track  of  the  spiritual,  the  infinite  and  eternal. 
It  was  because  John  Stuart  Mill  could  not  stop 
thinking,  that  his  nicely  finished  earthly  paradise  dis- 
appointed him.  What  of  it?  Though  you  feed 
and  clothe  and  house  every  one  abundantly,  what 
good  is  it,  unless  you  can  see  the  infinite  something 
beyond  —  a  spiritual  manhood  and  womanhood 
worthy  enough  for  the  multitude  of  your  comfort- 
able inhabitants? 

Some  minds  indeed  are  content  for  a  while  with 
the  vague  and  indefinite.  The  masterful  lad  filled 
with  his  visions  of  the  life  here  and  now  does  not 
care  to  hear  you  discourse  on  the  problem  of  Eternal 
Life.  The  eager  socialist  worker  is  possessed  for 
the  present  with  his  dreams  of  happy  economic  ad- 


THE   ETERNAL  LIFE  289 

justments.  The  infinite  hope  to  live  and  count  for 
something  useful  is  met  for  a  time  with  the  indefinite 
joy  of  the  "  great  renunciation."  Let  me  die,  if 
only  I  may 

"  join  the  choir  invisible 

Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 

In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence." 

Nevertheless,  straight  thinking  at  last  brings  the  in- 
evitable question:  Is  this  grand  "choir  immortal" 
truly  immortal  or  not?  We  think  of  those  who 
come  after  us,  our  children  to  be,  in  the  age  when 
the  earth,  grown  slightly  older,  faces  its  last  glacial 
cold  or  fatal  explosion.  What  hope  will  the  choir 
invisible  offer  against  the  last  days?  We  gladly 
toil  for  their  sakes  who  follow  us  that  they  may  have 
ampler  Hfe  than  we  enjoy,  and  the  hope  of  grander 
reality.  But  how  shall  it  come  except  in  the  realm 
of  infinite  spiritual  reality?  Thus,  our  thought  for- 
ever binds  up  our  growing  hope  with  the  prophecy 
of  Infinite  and  spiritual  life.  I  cannot  think  that  the 
creating  nature  has  made  hope  to  be  a  factor  and  a 
test  of  Hfe  power,  and  made  it  grow  and  rise  always 
toward  a  higher  and  abiding  life  and  linked  it  Into 
the  very  substance  of  our  spiritual  health,  only  at 
last  to  prove  a  delusion,  good  only  for  childish  be- 
ings, and  worthless  for  men.  I  can  be  cheated  with 
vain  hopes,  while  on  my  way  to  discover  perchance 
the  Indestructible  reality,  but  I  cannot  think  so 
meanly  of  the  creative  life  as  to  believe  It  will  cheat 
us    out    of   the   ultimate    hope.     For   this   ultimate 


290  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

hope  Is  Itself  of  the  substance  of  life.  It  arises  out 
of  the  ground  of  the  "  grand  renunciation"  to  die 
to  live  I 

We  know  one  solid  fact.  There  have  been  human 
lives  worthy  to  go  on  and  to  live :  a  single  Christ- 
life  is  a  stupendous  act  of  Creative  Will.  But  not 
one  Christ  story  alone  illuminates  history.  Such 
stories  of  the  great  and  the  humble  are  everywhere 
known,  and  never  so  many  as  now.  No  corrupt  and 
materialist  earth  blocks  their  splendid  growth. 
Visit  any  library  and  view  the  shelves  of  the  biog- 
raphies of  the  men  and  women  who  have  made 
human  life  most  beautiful.  It  Is  always  the  story  — 
whether  of  statesmen  or  good  physicians  or  fearless 
prophets  or  honest  men  of  affairs  or  good  teachers, 
and  gracious  women,  of  the  outburst  of  spiritual  life. 
The  terms  and  words  of  the  realm  of  the  spirit 
describe  them  and  mark  the  quality  of  their  accom- 
plishments. As  a  rule  they  are  men  of  faith,  hope 
and  love  —  the  three  great  conditions  of  the  life 
of  men  at  their  best.  If  all  lives  were  like  these 
lives,  who  could  deny  that  God  created  man  to  be 
immortal?  Could  you  think  that  men  are  no  more 
than  flies  in  the  records  of  time,  that  they  die  as 
flies  die,  and  that  out  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
meaningful  fruitage  of  the  universe  nothing  persists? 
At  any  rate,  some  of  our  brethren  have  been  infi- 
nitely worthy.  They  companioned  with  God  and 
co-operated  with  him.     Why  should  they  not  still 


THE  ETERNAL  LIFE  ^9^ 

serve  the  spirit  in  whom  they  live?  Through  them, 
we  say,  as  Matthew  Arnold  said  of  his  father,  we 
beheve  "  in  the  noble  and  great  who  are  gone," 

"  Souls  tempered  with  fire, 
Fervent,  heroic  and  good. 
Helpers   and   friends  of   mankind." 

We  believe  in  them  as  Sons  of  God,  that  is,  of  the 
Eternal  Reality.  Neither  are  these  great  souls 
alone.  The  commonest  man  has  it  in  him  to  know 
and  appreciate  the  same  quality  of  life.  Yes,  to 
respond  to  its  call.  Its  kernel  is  in  him.  Every 
village  has  the  story  of  his  kind.  Deathless  hope 
blossoms  out  of  such  facts. 

The  master-thought  of  evolution  is  very  sugges- 
tive at  this  point.     We  have  observed  that  the  way 
of  evolution  is  by  stages  and  periods.     Somethmg 
occurs  on  the  way  up  that  had  not  been  apparent 
before.     No   finite    thought   could   have   predicted 
what  would  come  forth  from  the  Infinite  Mind,  when 
conscious  life  first  throbbed,  or  when  man  first  stood 
erect  and  walked,  or  when  love  gave  its  first  smde 
out  of  a  woman's  eyes,  or  when  men  first  learned  to 
forgive.     These  are  divers  forms  of  the  rising  life. 
Who  can  help,  after  looking  backward  and  tracing 
the  path  ever  up  toward  spiritual  fulfillment,  to  ask. 
What  next?     Have  we  men  seen  all?     What  may 
be  beyond  this  strange  screen  through  which  we  all 
pass  ?     It  must  be  worthy  of  the  Power  that  brought 
us  so  far.     Must  it  not  be  interpreted  then  in  terms 
of  life  ?     Nothing  else  seems  worthy  of  the  universe. 


292  A   RELIGION   FOR   THE   NEW  DAY 

Do  they  not  then  travel  the  wrong  way  In  their 
thought  who  bear  stress  upon  the  material  and  in- 
fantile beginnings  of  man?  The  path  of  evolution 
is  ever  on  toward  more  profound  satisfactions. 
Look  back  all  you  please,  but  you  know  nothing  till 
you  come  where  the  past  and  the  present  and  the 
future  are  bound  into  unison. 

This  thought,  for  its  very  bigness,  makes  us  satis- 
fied that  we  cannot  know  what  the  next  stage  will  be 
like.  How  could  we  know,  who  never  knew  before- 
hand what  any  great  human  experience  would  be 
like,  or  what  it  would  do  to  us !  The  Master  Poet 
mind  of  the  world,  the  Dramatist  of  Creation,  al- 
ways goes  beyond  our  small  imaginings.  For  this 
reason,  if  for  no  other,  we  may  well  be  shy  of  such 
tidings  and  descriptions  of  another  life  as  grow  out 
of  strange  psychological  experiments  in  darkened 
parlors.  Are  they  quite  worthy  of  that  which  may 
soon  be  enacted  at  the  hand  of  him  to  whom  "  all 
things  are  possible"?  For  the  whole  universe 
seems  to  be  linked  together  as  if  with  a  great  prom- 
ise to  bring  to  pass  in  due  time  whatever  is  most 
desirable  for  the  children  of  God.  Now  the  one 
and  only  thing  of  which  we  can  assuredly  say  that 
it  is  desirable,  is  spiritual  life  and  ever  more  of  it. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  for  us  to  learn  to  the  last  breath 
how  better  to  speak  the  universal  language  which  we 
conceive  would  make  us  at  home  as  citizens  wherever 
real  life  is.  This  universal  language  is  in  the  terms 
of  faith,  hope  and  love.  Who  has  these  must  live, 
we  believe,  as  God  lives. 


THE   ETERNAL   LIFE  293 

What,  now,  Is  the  result  In  human  life,  If  a  man 
fairly  tries  and  practices,  however  provisionally,  the 
hope  of  Immortality?  The  mind  Itself,  finding  no 
reason  to  the  contrary,  recommends  this  conduct. 
Try  the  beautiful  thought  as  a  mere  "  perhaps." 
Try  It  as  you  would  try  a  new  mode  of  motion  or  a 
new  experience. 

Dr.  Washington  Gladden  once  published  a  little 
essay,  "  The  Practice  of  Immortality."  He  meant 
this  of  which  I  am  speaking.  Live  as  an  Immortal 
being  would  live,  and  go  on  living  so  till  you  have  to 
stop.  This  proves  to  be  an  exquislt-e  mode  of  life  to 
every  one  who  tries  It.  You  who  hold  the  vast  hope 
are  more  and  greater  men  than  you  ever  were  before. 
You  have  greater  volume  of  life  within  you;  you 
treat  all  other  men  likewise  as  heirs  of  Immortality; 
you  respect  them  more ;  you  behave  better  to  them. 
You  who  have  this  hope  can  wrong  no  man,  hate  no 
one,  despise  no  one.  Thus  enlarged  In  richness  of 
life,  you  can  do  nothing  unworthy;  you  are  taken  up 
Into  habits  of  thought  beyond  fear.  You  are  ready 
for  all  good  endeavor.  You  seem  to  share  the  pres- 
ence of  God. 

Is  not  this  way  of  life,  then,  which  fits  and  matches 
and  relates  Itself  to  a  whole,  and  draws  from  new 
sources  of  power  and  opens  vistas  of  ever  more 
loving,  social  and  useful  action.  In  all  probability 
true?  It  certainly  works  for  the  Increase  and 
heightening  of  life.  It  either  means  something  real 
or  It  means  nothing.  Does  not  the  reason  Itself  put 
its  seal  upon  It?     Try  the  opposite  way.     I  live  for 


294  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

a  while  as  if  death  ended  all.  The  skies  of  my  life 
darken.  I  am  less  a  man  than  I  was  before.  I 
cannot  possibly  think  so  well  of  other  men.  I  ap- 
proach the  permanent  attitude  of  the  pessimist  and 
cynic.  I  find  this  course  neither  livable  nor  think- 
able. I  proceed  again  to  cherish  this  great  normal 
hope  and  I  find  myself  in  the  way  of  life  ! 

But  what  if  I  knew  that  death  ended  all?  What 
if  facts  and  the  reason  could  set  up  a  final  verdict 
of  "  No  thoroughfare  "  against  the  gate  of  death. 
I  do  not  see  how  this  could  be  done.  But  suppose  it. 
Should  we  say  now,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow we  die"?  Certainly  not.  No  one  who 
has  once  learned  to  live  the  good  life,  no  one  who 
has  tasted  its  characteristic  quality,  no  one  who  has 
seen  the  vision  of  spiritual  integrity  can  forsake  his 
manhood  and  debase  himself  to  sensuality.  He  will 
still  have  to  live  as  if  life  and  God  and  truth,  duty 
and  love  were  real.  Even  if  a  future  life  were  not 
to  be,  we  men  have  known  the  facts  of  the  eternal 
life.  We  have  found  them  to  be  real.  They  hold 
us  in  their  firm  and  kindly  bonds.  This  is  a  mar- 
velous fact  of  experience.  It  is  the  old  idea: 
Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him.  How 
can  any  one  account  for  it  except  as  we  are  compelled 
to  reverse  the  verdict  of  death,  and  accept  Life  and 
Love  as  Lord  of  All!  Thus  immortality  seems  to 
be  an  inseparable  part  of  the  fabric  of  the  universe. 

I  say,  then,  if  I  could  know  there  were  no 
Guiding  Life  or  Higher  Power  than  man,  and  no 
life  beyond   or   above   this  physical  life,   I   should 


THE  ETERNAL  LIFE  295 

still  see  nothing  so  good  as  to  go  on  trying  to  live 
the  life  of  my  ideals.  I  should  not  curse  the  uni- 
verse as  evil.  But  this  is  not  to  say  that  I  could 
ever  again  live  at  my  best,  as  I  now  know  this  best. 
My  thought  and  estimate  of  the  universe,  my  valua- 
tion of  life,  my  respect  for  myself  and  my  own  worth, 
my  regard  for  others  and  my  conception  of  their 
value  would  be  unalterably  changed.  I  should  live 
in  a  different  universe,  less  worth  while,  with  men 
less  worthy,  with  a  rather  morbid  temperament  drag- 
ging upon  me.  I  should  have  no  happy  buoyancy, 
no  enthusiasm,  no  gladsome  abandon  to  a  grand 
purpose.  It  would  be  the  difference  between  one 
foreseeing  shipwreck  at  the  end  of  his  voyage  and 
one  who  expected  to  land  and  meet  his  friends. 
Foreseeing  the  fatal  end,  much  would  seem  to  me 
futile  to  attempt  which  in  the  other  case  I  should 
heartily  undertake  as  a  natural  part  of  the  journey 
and  the  fulfillment  of  its  purpose.  My  feelings  to- 
ward my  fellow  voyagers  would  be  a  thinner  kind 
of  comradeship. 

Let  me  venture  to  sum  up  what  I  have  wished  to 
say.  I  cannot  look  upon  either  our  belief  In  God  or 
the  hope  of  Immortality  as  simple  Ideas,  seen  at  a 
glance  by  what  men  call  "  intuition."  They  are 
complex,  and  proceed  as  a  conclusion  or  resultant 
of  the  experiences  of  life.  This  Is  why  many  minds 
fail  to  accept  them  Immediately.  They  are  hardly 
possible  as  the  outcome  of  an  evil  or  selfish  career. 
How  should  they  be?     They  are  more  likely  to 


296  A  RELIGION   FOR  THE  NEW  DAY 

come  from  a  life  of  definite  ethical  or  spiritual  move- 
ment. Why  should  they  not?  Why  should  I  think 
well  of  a  world  to  which  I  had  turned  the  worse  side 
of  me,  and  blurred  my  vision  of  its  realities? 

Meanwhile,  I  cannot  live  a  life  neutral  between 
faith  and  doubt,  touching  subjects  so  immense  in 
their  reaction  upon  character  and  life.  If  God  is; 
if  in  some  sense,  dim  or  clear,  life  and  not  death 
is  the  answer  to  the  riddle  of  the  world,  it  is  wonder- 
ful news.  Every  one  who  loves  his  fellow  must  wish 
that  this  may  be  true.  Every  one  must  on  occasion 
in  the  grand  crises  of  life  press  a  little  way  beyond 
bare  agnosticism  toward  the  region  where  light 
shines.  Let  me  begin,  then,  with  as  much  as  a  tiny 
"  perhaps  "  to  this  immense  possibility.  Why  not? 
If  I  say  as  much  as  this  in  sincerity,  it  acts  at  once 
to  change  my  character,  my  interpretation  of  events, 
my  temper,  my  purpose,  my  destiny,  all  distinctly  in 
the  direction  of  fuller,  stronger,  happier  life.  It 
does  this  without  militating,  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
against  my  normal  openness  of  mind.  Indeed,  it 
binds  me  to  a  supreme  regard  for  truth  and  integ- 
rity. Now  I  propose  to  go  on  in  this  course  to  the 
uttermost.  Has  God  no  further  use  for  me  when 
I  part  from  this  body?  Is  there  no  room  in  the 
universe  at  last?  Be  it  so.  I  would  not  live  upon 
the  charity  of  the  universe.  But  what  I  know  of  the 
universe  compels  me  to  think  well  of  it.  I  have 
found  astounding  good  in  it.  If  God  wills,  "  I  shall 
arrive."  It  looks  like  a  splendid  adventure.  We 
now  seem  to  be  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  spiritual 


THE   ETERNAL   LIFE  297 

life  of  mankind.  After  us  must  come  multitudes  of 
more  thoughtful,  better  and  more  useful  men,  who 
will  surpass  a  generation  reared  in  squalor,  poverty 
and  strife.  They  shall  possess  a  stouter  faith,  a 
warmer  hope  matching  a  wider  humanity,  with  insti- 
tutions rich  and  adequate  to  serve  them.  Holding 
the  secret  of  wisdom,  they  shall  rule  and  use  the 
world  without  abusing  it.  The  fear  of  death  shall 
be  taken  from  their  eyes. 


THE  END 


